Understanding Cyber Security: A quick guide for busy business owners

As more businesses embrace working from home setups, understanding cyber security has become more imperative than ever for business owners and employees. Recent data shows Australians have lost a total of over $72 million to cyber security scams.

Information and data are progressively becoming more valuable to scammers, making the need for cyber security training essential for your business and employees.

Continue reading to learn the value of training your staff in cyber security.

What is cyber security and why is it important?

Cybersecurity is the practice of protecting internet-connected systems such as your data, software and hardware for cyberthreats.

Australia has seen an 84 per cent spike in scams since last year, and after two years of remote working, online workspaces have become a haven for cyber criminals.

Common cybercrimes that can affect your staff

Understanding cyber security can be the best defence against cybercrimes, especially in cloud-based workspaces.

Without even realising, your business could fall victim to security threats and scams. Some of the most common crimes include:

• Malware breaches that occur commonly through links;
• Phishing software that steals personal data;
• Man-in-the-Middle attacks (MitM): two-party unsecure transactions; and
• SQL (Structure Query Language) Interjection: malicious code that attacks servers.

Find out more about how to spot cyber security scams in your business.

Why do your staff need to understand cyber security?

The Australia Cyber Security Centre released an official alert in February 2022 that organisations should improve their cyber security measures or else they run the risk of cybercrimes. As cybercriminal activity evolves, businesses small to large need to adapt.

The Cybercrime report by the ACSC broke down the average cost to Australian businesses as a result of cybercrime:

• Over $8,000 for small businesses
• Over $33,000 for medium sized businesses
• Over $19,000 for large businesses

Cyber criminals have adapted to on online community of vulnerable businesses, using effective tricks to manipulate users into performing actions or revealing passwords.

How can Strategic Group help?

Now you are aware of the risks of cyber-attacks, the best protection you can provide is to train your staff in how to avoid the risk in the first place.

The most common method of a hacker gaining access to your systems is through human error. Empowering your team to protect their passwords, accounts and digital assets will help also protect your business.

We offer email testing and training to help employees understand the best practices in their day-to-day job.

To understand the value of training your staff in cyber security, read our our whitepaper today or get in touch with us!