With the advent of the internet, life as we know it has changed for the better – well, mostly. As with everything, criminals attempt to exploit whatever they can for personal gain. More alarmingly, the internet’s reach exceeds geographical borders meaning that Australia’s location in the middle of nowhere won’t protect us from international targets anymore.
Recent studies have indicated that Australia is just as much a target as any other country in the world, especially if we are not as aware and educated on the topic of cyber security. For example, if a business had an overdue audit, that would be taken as high priority, but if there were potential security holes in a computer network the response is likely to be: ‘we’ll look into it.’
Will this affect you?
Cyber criminals have a whole host of weapons up their sleeves. Most common is spear phishing – those convincing spam emails that look really legitimate, often appearing to be from a reputable source like PayPal for example.
Once infected by the malware, the hacker will most likely attempt to either steal insider secrets, general information or shutdown your computer services and demanding a ransom payment to unlock it.
What you can do about it?
The number one rule when dealing with these criminals is DON’T negotiate. If you do negotiate with them, they will keep on continuing to exploit you for your money. Instead, you should target the real root of the problem – simply spend the time upgrading
your defences. You should also spread the awareness to within the whole business.
Also, you should only grant access to things that only the staff member needs to access for their direct job – nothing more.
Bring Your Own Devices (BYOD) are becoming more popular with younger businesses and this could be the cause of a lot of security holes. Often, blending a personal computer with business can be saving the business a lot of money but also brings an added
bonus of increased network vulnerability – yay! To combat this, it would be better to ideal to inform the staff to raise awareness where possible to protect confidential business secrets.
Key Takeaway
Cyber crime can lead to the loss of intellectual property, monetary suffering and a loss of reputation. Don’t be that vulnerable business open to hackers, and definitely don’t underestimate the need for online security for your business’ wellbeing.
Let us know your thoughts by tagging us #lawpath or @lawpath.
