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Companies ignoring hack warnings

4 Oct 2024

Almost half of the businesses warned by Australia’s top cyber security agency of impending hacks didn’t bother to return the phone call.


In an alarming disclosure to The Australian Financial Review, the new director-general of the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD), Abigail Bradshaw, said that the agency had contacted organisations 620 times in the last 12 months to tell them it had information “that suggests that you might have a problem”.


But of those calls, 280 were never returned.


Bradshaw said the agency shared such information because it had been shown to help companies to achieve positive outcomes in the face of escalating threats while enabling The ASD to detect more incidents.


Sharing Encouraged

The ASD’s alerts are part of a broader government plan to encourage more information sharing. New rules recently announced will permit businesses to share private details with government agencies without concern it will be used against them in future damages claims.


That being said, regulators are still tightening the screws on directors and executives to take responsibility for cyber security prevention and recovery. The new laws won’t provide “immunity” for those who fail to prepare in the months or years leading up to a hack.


Hacking: this century’s “H-Bomb”

Not only is cybercrime financially lucrative for ransomware gangs, but digital attacks are becoming a critical component of geopolitical conflict, Bradshaw said.


“The line between state-based actors and criminal actors is becoming finer,” she said.


Cybercrime and conflict are set to escalate as quantum computing coupled with artificial intelligence supercharges hacking efforts. The US’s Pentagon described that emerging combination as “the 21st century’s equivalent of the nuclear bomb”.


The Australian Financial Review warned that “if you get caught out by a cyberattack which causes broader harm, directors will not be able to talk their way out of trouble by saying they thought their techies had it covered”.


Acting on ASD Alerts

To mitigate hefty fines and sanctions, directors and executives need to prioritise their time and attention on cyber safety.


A Managed File Transfer (MFT) solution such as GoAnywhere MFT can encrypt data at rest and in transit, complying with the highest data security standards. It manages inbound and outbound file transfers across an organisation, using industry-standard file transfer protocols and encryption to protect data in transit and at rest.


Advanced Threat Protection and Adaptive Loss Prevention add a further layer of defence. SFT Threat Protection enables safe collaboration with external parties, preventing malware from entering an organisation, and reducing the risk of employees losing or mishandling sensitive data.


Local Experts On Hand

Generic Systems Australia are local experts in helping companies deploy Managed File Transfer and Advanced Threat Protection. We’ve assisted hundreds of organisations across Australia and New Zealand to secure their data and keep cybercriminals at bay.


If you’d like to discuss how we can help you, please feel welcome to contact me, Bradley Copson. I’m always happy to have an obligation-free discussion, explain how simply we can transition you from outdated software and approaches, and offer you a zero-cost Proof of Concept.

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