8 essential steps to keep your business cyber safe

**In 2020, there was a marked increase in cybercrime due to the increase in remote working, with a global estimate for cybercrime costs expected to exceed $1trillion this year*.**

Industry estimates suggest that cybersecurity incidents cost Australian businesses alone up to $29 billion each year* and businesses are facing increasingly sophisticated and capable cybercriminals who are even altering email invoices mid send to redirect funds.

But a recent survey of small to medium businesses conducted by the ACSC has found that business owners still have an average or below-average understanding of cybersecurity and 9 out of 10 are underestimating the impact a cyber-attack will have on their businesses.

The survey found that although 60 per cent of survey respondents had already experienced cybercrime in some form, they spent less than $500 on protective measures and the main barriers to improving cyber safety included;

Lack of IT savvy staff
Perceived complexity of the risk
General lack of planning
Underestimation of the risks

In response to the survey results, ACSC has developed a range of tools for small business and launched a nation-wide advertising campaign this month to improve cybercrime literacy.

8 Essential Cyber Security Measures;

Application whitelisting – change your settings to only allow authorised programs to operate on your computers

Patching applications – make sure you install web browser and application updates within 48 hours of release

Application hardening – Configure web browsers and other applications to block unauthorised programs and pop-ups.

Restricting admin access – to operating systems and applications based on user duties. Regularly revalidate the need for privileges.

Disabling macros – to block macros from the internet, and only allow vetted macros either in ‘trusted locations’ with limited write access or digitally signed with a trusted certificate.

Turning on Multi-factor Authentication – especially for banking and accounting applications

Daily backups – Of system data and settings.

Patching Operating Systems – Updating Microsoft or Mac operating systems often and ensuring you’re not using old, unsupported versions (Microsoft 10 or below)