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Want to keep your small business cyber safe? Here are the pitfalls to avoid.
The Council of Small Business Organisations of Australia (COSBOA) has released the results of a survey polling more than 2,000 small Australian businesses.
The research, conducted via COSBOA’s Cyber Wardens program, highlights the five top bad habits that leave businesses open to cyber attacks, data breaches, and, in turn, financial loss.
“It’s hard to remain vigilant, so this is a reminder on how to avoid slipping into bad habits and instead build good habits that improve your business culture of simple cyber security,” said COSBOA chief executive Luke Achterstraat in a statement.
“Through the Cyber Wardens program, we are encouraging small-business owners to make simple swaps in the everyday habits of their businesses as the easiest way to kickstart your new year cyber safety plan.”
5 bad habits to avoid
1. Twenty-seven per cent of small businesses don’t properly shut down their PCs at the close of business. This can lead to timely updates to software and operating systems not being installed, leaving systems open to attack via a lack of security updates. Shut down your machines every night.
2. Twenty-six per cent of businesses polled reuse the same passwords across multiple machines, while 16 per cent use shorter-than-recommended passwords. Both habits make password security easier to crack. Use only complex and unique passwords to secure your devices.
3. Twenty-one per cent of small businesses delete suspicious emails without alerting the relevant IT staff. It’s actually far better to share suspected scams so that they can be properly identified. Reporting them to Scamwatch is an even better idea.
4. Twenty per cent of businesses share single passwords between multiple employees, which could lead to one lost password compromising multiple systems and people. The use of unique passwords for each employee leads to much less risk from the loss of a password.
5. Eighteen per cent of small businesses are lax when it comes to keeping software up to date. Pop-ups that remind you about new updates may be annoying, but many hackers are only too ready to take advantage of out-of-date software. Install updates right away, as they often fix previous vulnerabilities that many hackers may rely on.
The Cyber Wardens program was announced last year as part of the federal government’s broader cyber security strategy and is run by the COSBOA alongside an alliance of businesses led by the Commonwealth Bank and Telstra. Rebecca Warren, executive general manager of small business banking at CBA, knows all too well the impact scams can have on a small business.
“While the prevalence of scams continues to rise, recent CommBank data shows anti-scam initiatives announced by the bank over the past year are making a real difference for customers, with CommBank protecting retail and business customers from more than $228 million scam attempts through its early prevention and detection program,” Warren said.
“People are the first line of defence when it comes to payment scams, which is why the Cyber Wardens program to upskill small businesses in cyber safety, so small businesses can build resilience from the ground up, is such an important initiative.”
David Hollingworth has been writing about technology for over 20 years, and has worked for a range of print and online titles in his career. He is enjoying getting to grips with cyber security, especially when it lets him talk about Lego.
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