- Sole Trader – one employee
- Micro-business – two to four employees
- Small Business – five to 19 employees
- Medium-sized Business – 20 to 199 employees
Earlier this year, Australia was labelled the sixth most targeted country in the world for cyber threats. If 2020 is anything to go by, simple security and response plans won’t be enough to protect your business moving forward. The Federal Government’s recommendations and the lessons learned from the range of cyber incidents in 2020 provide a prompt for all organisations to reassess their cyber resilience and incident readiness.
There is more at risk than data
These attacks may impact your organisation’s data, but they can also impact your staff, operations, customers and suppliers. Research by Comparethemarket.com.au found 44% of employees have put their company at risk of a cyber attack. Medium-sized businesses compromised their employer the most, with more than half admitting to potentially opening up their systems to an attack or data breach.
Who could be a cyber threat?
Cyber criminals come in all shapes and sizes. They may be an individual or a group of people. Threats may come from:
- criminals – out for money or information, to illegally access your hardware and data, or to disrupt your business
- clients you do business with – to compromise your information
- business competitors – looking to gain an advantage over your business
- current or former employees – who accidentally or intentionally compromise your information
How can cyberattacks happen?
Cybercriminals look for information and ways to access the data on your business, employees and customers.
- theft or unauthorised access of hardware, computers and mobile devices
- infecting computers with malware (such as viruses, ransomware, and spyware)
- attacking your technology or website
- attacking third party systems
- spamming you with emails containing malware
- gaining access to your information through your employees or customers
