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Cyber security – Strategies for keeping your business safe

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The latest Cyber Crime statistics from the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) show that there was a cybercrime reported every 8 minutes (it was 10 mins last year, so they are becoming more frequent), totalling 68,000 in the past 12 months. The most common type of cybercrime reported is Fraud (40%) which includes online shopping scams, as well as banking scams. Identity theft and misuse of personal information (7%) and then cyber related abuse 12%. The biggest threat was ransomware, as it requires minimal technical expertise, is low cost and can cause businesses significant problems, including crippling core business functions. From a recent survey, 70% of organisations are not protected by a cyber insurance policy, which can offer immediately help in dealing with hackers, ransom demands and Privacy Breaches.

A helpful resource you can use to keep your business safe is the government’s cyber alert website. This site provides you with an up-to-date list of identified cyber security threats and it’s currently reporting that the cyber risk of attacks on Australian networks, due to the Ukraine war, is high. It’s also reporting that there’s a medium risk of high-impact ransomware attacks against critical infrastructure and a medium risk of email scams targeting construction companies.

With so many different threats coming from so many different directions, you need to reduce your cyber risk as soon as possible. Here are six simple steps to get you started.

6 Steps for keeping your business safe against cyber threats

If you’re not sure if your business is secure against cyber threats, you can use the government’s online tool to assess your cyber risk. You can also access their cyber security guide for small businesses that’s designed to help you keep your business safe from online scams and other cyber threats.

Here are six tips drawn from this guide that will help you reduce your cyber risk very quickly.

1. Update your software

Always ensure that your operating systems, programs and apps are updated as soon as possible as this reduces your cyber risk. It’s one of the best ways to increase your cyber security and even better, you can turn on automatic updates so you never forget.

2. Backup your systems

Another way to keep your business safe is to regularly back up all your most important files, for example, your financial records and customer databases. This allows your business to quickly recover from a cyber-attack whilst minimising downtime.

3. Enable multi-factor authorisation

Requiring two or more proofs of identity to access your systems is one of the most effective ways to keep your business safe against unauthorised access. Cybercriminals might be able to steal passwords, but it’s much more difficult to steal two methods of authentication.

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4. Limit access to your systems

Not all of your employees need access to all of your files, so limiting access to the ones they require for their work also reduces your cyber risk. This is particularly relevant when people work from home or when external providers require access to your systems.

5. Increase the complexity of passwords

When two-factor authentication isn’t suitable, you should ensure that passwords or even better, passphrases are not easy to remember. The longer and more complex these passphrases, the harder they are to crack. A password manager helps to keep these passphrases secure.

6. Employee education

It’s important to increase your employee’s scam awareness, as well as their knowledge of cyber security. They need to know how to prevent, recognise and report any cyber threats, helping to keep your business safe and your networks secure.

Do you need cyber risk insurance?

Another critical step to protect yourself and your business from the financial and reputational impact of cyber security breaches is to take out the right type of cyber insurance. If the worst does occur and your business experiences a cyber-attack, then you will have the support of the insurers and recovery experts to get the business back up and running as quickly as possible and pay all the costs.

Find your local adviser to talk to an insurance specialist today.

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General Advice Warning: This advice is general and does not take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. You should consider whether the advice is appropriate for you and your personal circumstances. Before you make any decision about whether to acquire a certain product, you should obtain and read the relevant product disclosure statement.

All information above has been provided by the author.

Insurance Advisernet, ABN 15 003 886 687, AFSL 240549

This article originally appeared on Insurance Advisernet News and has been published here with permission.