The advent of technology, especially of the digital kind, has made us more connected than ever and our lives fast and convenient. However, with digitization being embraced across organizations, domains, and geographies, cybercrime has reared its ugly head. It is no longer a secret that phishing scams, data breaches, malware, and others, threaten to undermine the gains we have made from leveraging technologies such as the Internet of Things, Cloud computing, Microservices, AI and ML, Data Science, and others. Stats suggest that Australia is ranked 38th in cybersecurity, as per NCSI (National Cybersecurity Index,) 12th as per Global Cybersecurity Index, and 14th in ICT Development Index.
As a rising number of cybercrimes get reported in the media, customers have become wary of businesses and demand better compliance and transparency. Even regulators, shareholders, and politicians have taken notice of the prevailing threats, and are demanding Australian companies to open up about the measures being taken to secure customers’ data. The demand has gotten shriller after the Optus data breach, arguably the biggest hack in Australia’s history.
Businesses Tightlipped About Cyber Attacks
As a consequence of the Optus data breach, information about 10 million people seems to have been hacked. Customers are fuming that the tech company did not see it coming and has been quite lackadaisical in its approach to cybersecurity. Does this mean companies, post the hacking incident, have strengthened their cyber security infrastructure and become more transparent related to the safekeeping of customers’ information. We doubt so, for according to a PwC survey, about 90 percent of Australian executives are concerned about sharing information on cyber attacks on their businesses. According to them, such sharing of information could lead to ceding ground to their competitors.
Strengthening Cybersecurity to Prevent Cybercrime
With the Australian Cyber Security Centre warning of increased attacks in terms of scale and complexity, what should businesses do? Should they go behind a veil of secrecy and non-compliance, and risk being discovered by hackers, sooner or later? Let us understand how businesses can strengthen cybersecurity to build trust and remain competitive.
Risk and Compliance: Different businesses have different regulations for protection against cyber threats. These include PCI DSS certification for eCommerce businesses, HIPAA compliance security for medical devices, and ISO 27001 for securing business information, among others. One of the prominent cyber security companies, Cybernetic Global Intelligence, offers a host of cyber security services. These include penetration testing for businesses to identify and fix glitches or vulnerabilities in their computer systems. It helps businesses comply with regulatory standards with certifications such as PCI DSS, GDPR, APRA Prudential Standard CPS 234, and others.
Assessment: Businesses, especially legacy ones, are more vulnerable to cybersecurity threats. Let us understand that computer systems with interfaces to third parties can be the gateway for threat actors to gain entry and cause data breaches. To mitigate or eliminate the same, areas of vulnerabilities or embedded bugs in applications, data centres, and systems should be peremptorily identified and fixed. This can be done by implementing a slew of services depending on the type of system to check and validate. The services include penetrating testing, mobile application testing, telecom security audits, security code review, and others. Cyber security consulting from professionals like Cybernetic Global Intelligence can help businesses detect risks, ringfence, and remediate them.
Managed Security Services: The complexity and frequency of cyber-attacks mean businesses need to hire reputed cyber security support services to monitor and manage the security of data, applications, devices, networks, and systems. The services include intrusion detection, firewall, anti-virus, virtual private network, vulnerability scanning, incident response, log monitoring, phishing simulation, and SIEM implementation, among others. By outsourcing the job to managed security services, businesses can minimize expenses on overheads, especially on training and deployment of personnel 24 x 7.
Training: The proverb, “A chain is as strong as its weakest link” holds true for employees not trained in enforcing or following risk and compliance principles. An ignorant and untrained employee in following cybersecurity measures can inadvertently expose the system to threat actors. Consequently, businesses can find their customer information getting compromised or breached leading to a host of adverse consequences, including customer ire, lawsuits, and loss of brand value. By outsourcing training to certified cyber security companies like Cybernetic Global Intelligence, businesses can run cybersecurity awareness training and implement proper security controls and best practices.
Conclusion
Implementing cyber security measures and enforcing protocols, as mentioned above, can help businesses address the growing menace of cybercrime. This is where the experts from Australia’s leading cybersecurity consulting firm, Cybernetic Global Intelligence can protect businesses from falling prey to cybercrime. It can do so by establishing robust security controls, assessing risks, identifying and fixing system vulnerabilities, and remediating threats.
To keep your business safe from cyber-attacks, strengthen customer confidence, and be competitive, send an email to contact@cybernetic-gi.com or call 1300 292 376.