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Small businesses shouldn’t be ashamed to seek cyber support after falling victim to an attack, Minister for Small Business Julie Collins has said.
Australian small-business owners have felt ashamed and embarrassed when directly attacked by a cyber incident, leading to a decrease in requests for government support.
In the 2022–23 financial year, Australian small businesses lost an average of $46,000 to a cyber incident, based on estimations from the Australian Signals Directorate.
The estimate was derived from 94,000 cyber crimes reported to the government, which was predicted to be much higher based on some SMEs being too embarrassed to report an incident.
In a piece for SmartCompany, Minister for Small Business Julie Collins said she had heard firsthand from small-business owners who had not reported their cyber attacks due to the shame and stigma attached to falling victim.
“It’s not just e-commerce businesses that are at risk,” Minister Collins said.
“You might use an online booking system to manage appointments, a cloud-based accounting package, or even just an email account – they all need to be secure.”
“That’s why my message to small businesses after October’s cyber security awareness month is to work with your trusted advisers and government to report and recover from cyber incidents and build your cyber resilience into the future.”
Collins noted that enforcing cyber security was easier than expected for small businesses.
SMEs could put themselves in “good stead” just by having secure passwords, using multifactor authentication, and regularly updating software.
According to Minister Collins, the government provided and funded multiple tools and programs to protect the cyber integrity of small Australian businesses.
These programs included the Council of Small Business Organisations Australia’s (COSBOA) Cyber Wardens program aimed at providing free online training to SME owners and their staff on steps that could be taken to protect crucial information.
Minister Collins said she had also launched the Small Business Cyber Resilience Service to assist SMEs in recovering from a cyber or privacy-related incident and to provide advice and a resilience assessment.
The Department of Home Affairs was also set to develop a cyber health check service for eligible small businesses.
“I’m incredibly proud as federal minister for small business to be delivering a number of free supports to help small businesses stay safe online,” Minister Collins said.
“The Albanese Labor government is delivering more than $60 million in these important digital supports, as part of the more than $640 million in targeted and practical support to small businesses in this year’s budget.”
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