Any type of business that has an online process should address cybersecurity especially now that many cyber criminals have been targeting SMEs. Enlisting the help of a competent IT solution service provider will greatly lessen the chances of being hacked and mitigate losses in case your business falls prey to cyber attacks.
Symantec, a cyber security company, announced that more than half of spear phishing cyber attacks using fake email addresses targeted small businesses in the last quarter of 2015. Hackers take advantage of small businesses that are not protected by an IT solution service knowing that small enterprises tend to not have sophisticated defences unlike larger companies. Majority of small businesses do not have enough human or financial resources to implement proper cyber risk management and defence.
Recent global statistics showed that Australia comes in second for the most commonly cyber attacked country for ransomware. In this scenario, hackers would breach your IT systems and decrypt your data, locking you out of your own system and holding the data hostage. They would then ask for a certain amount to let you regain access to your own data property. Imagine how this would affect your business and calculate how much will be lost from profits and from paying out that ransom fee. It would not even be a third of the cost of having a reliable IT solution service team protect and monitor your IT systems for better cybersecurity.
Other serious cyber threats directed to SMEs that a good IT solution service group should look out for include hack attack (hackers gains access to the business network via exploiting unpatched software vulnerabilities and stealing company information like customer details and payment information), CEO fraud (cybercriminals spoofs senior personnel email accounts to get somebody with financial authority to transfer funds), and denial of service attack (a business website is flooded with an overwhelming volume of malicious data).
Phillip Simpson, a Dell Secure Works consultant, said that Australia is being targeted by hackers because of lack of awareness in the boardroom on issues that concern cybersecurity. The country does not also have proper regulations and there is a skills shortage, he added. He says that cybersecurity is seen as defence instead of a competitive advantage. Investing in hiring a good IT solution service group is for more inexpensive than recovering from a cyber attack. Many small businesses that do not have 24/7 monitoring and security being done by an IT solutions service provider have already been compromised but they do not even know it yet. Businesses and IT solution service providers should take an asset proactive protection-oriented stance.
It is currently commonplace for small businesses to allocate 5-10% of their technological budget on protection and defence, while scrupulous cyber entities concentrate 100% of their budget and efforts on attack By that ratio alone you would think that it will always be a losing battle but If your business appropriates enough funds to hire a dependable IT solutions service team that has kept your company secrets, customer information, and payment information safe, then I would consider that as a win.
Prime Minister Turnbull officially launched the nation’s cyber security strategy this week. The prime minister recognizes the call for national leadership knowing that the country’s economic security is at risk. The security strategy will have 33 cyber security drives with a budget of more than $230 million, which includes a hundred cyber security specialist jobs. The strategy will focus on encouraging collaboration between the private and public sectors. There will be joint cyber threat centres where exchange of sensitive data between private sectors, researchers, and the government can be done. This is indeed good news for small businesses and also for IT solutions services providers.
The country’s cyber security centre will be relocated to allow for a better integrated cooperation between businesses, foreign partners, academic and research communities, and the government. The ACSSC will continue to be lead by the ASD (Australian Signals Directorate) and there will be a newly appointed “Cyber Ambassador”.
5000 small businesses, which may or may not have IT service solution providers employed, will benefit from having their security tested and other efforts will be done to help the private sector improve their cyber security.
