It takes organisations an average of 200 days to realise they've suffered a breach and had valuable data stolen, with many companies never recovering.
Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison's recently confirmed Australia had been hit by a state-based cyberattack targeting all government sectors including Education, Health & other essential services. This announcement brought not only the topic of cybersecurity back into the headlines, but also catapulted the state of Australia's cybersecurity resilience and readiness into question.
"Regrettably, this act is not new, but the frequency is increasing. We know it is a sophisticated state-based cyber actor because of the scale and nature of the targeting and the tradecraft used."
Following the breach, the Federal Government announced $1.35billion in existing defence funding would be spent over the next decade to boost Australia's cybersecurity capabilities, of which $118 million has been allocated to expand data science and intelligence capabilities to identify emerging cyber threats.
So, what does this attack mean for the private sector? If the government, with their pool of resources, budgets and unlimited access to the latest technologies is susceptible to attack, any business is.
"This activity is targeting Australian organisations across a range of sectors, including all levels of government, industry, political organisations, education, health, essential service providers and operators of other critical infrastructure," Mr Morrison said.
With a constant slew of headlines reporting breaches, ransomware, businesses closing due to a cyber incident, or the Australian Prime Minister citing issue relating to national security, why wouldn't you implement preventative measures?
The results of the Australian Cyber Security Centre's small business survey were of the same sentiment. Its evident Australian businesses are struggling with their cybersecurity and drastically underestimate the consequences and recovery time following a cybersecurity incident.
The message to Australian business is clear - do what you need to do to protect your valuable business and personal data. Threats come from across the globe daily.
Secure your business and understand your security posture before you fall victim; an attack is only a matter of time.
Cybersecurity incidents cost Australian businesses an estimated $29 billion yearly, with 72% of companies having experienced a cyber incident or anticipating to in the future.
The biggest hurdles when it comes to implementing good, effective, cybersecurity barriers? Lack of resources, lack of knowledge and understanding, lack of planning, and significantly underestimating the risk.
When it comes to securing an office location, while shared workspaces can be alluring as a cost-effective and convenient option, they can come with risks.
Often a revolving door of different people, visitors, and devices, asking the right questions about their technology can be the difference between your business staying secure and your private data being accessed and circulated publicly, often without you even realising.
Consider things like:
- Is the premise secure?
- Do tenants need a key to gain access?
- Can they tailor a network solution for your business?
- Do they allow you to bring your own network security devices?
- Is there separate wifi networks for tenants and visitors?
- Are there restrictions to those who can access the servers and networks?
- Do they have in-house or on-call IT support staff?
Knowing how to prevent a breach, and where to start on your journey to security maturity can be daunting.
Australian owned, Red Piranha's range of Crystal Eye products and services are designed to simplify cybersecurity, keeping your business, staff, network and supply chain secure.
To help combat the alarming rate of attacks on Australian business, Red Piranha is offering Servcorp clients 25% off services including Electronic Chief Information Security Officer (eCISO), Virtual Electronic Chief Information Security Officer (vCISO), Vulnerability and Penetration Testing (VAPT), Business Survival Assessment (BSAS), Business Continuity Management (BCM) and more.
Bring in the experts, know where your weaknesses lie and secure your business before it's too late.
