< News The GoAnywhere Customer Who Didn’t Panic 20 Aug 2025 In Douglas Adams’ much-loved work of science-fiction whimsy, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the Babel Fish is a small yellow fish inserted into a person's ear to provide instant translation of any language.  Described by The Guide as “probably the oddest thing in the universe”*, the Babel Fish is a neat (if somewhat slimy) solution to the pervasive galactic challenge of interspecies communication. It reminds me how GoAnywhere MFT once solved a customer’s pressing “payslip-up”. “But the plans were on display…”* Our customer, a leading provider of human services who employs thousands, had installed a new payroll system. This system, like the outdated system it was replacing, produced employee payslips as PDF files. These were subsequently distributed to employees via a separate Human Resources system. Installation, testing and initialisation of the new payroll system had all gone according to plan. Until, that is, the first pay run was performed. “Have you any idea what these strange symbols are?”* In what The Hitchhiker’s Guide may well have cited as “a practical demonstration of the principles of infinite improbability” employees didn’t receive their payslips. It was soon realised that the problem had occurred because the PDF payslips produced by the new payroll system were formatted differently to the PDFs previously produced by the old one. (The old system had output the PDFs as individual PDF files for each employee, compressed into a zip file. The new system output one PDF file for each employee and, further complicating the situation, the new payslips varied in number of pages.) These PDF formatting changes rendered the output from the new payroll system unreadable by the Human Resources system - a problem which had somehow been overlooked during testing. “The consequences of not knowing any of this stuff are particularly terrible”* This failure of inter-systems communication wasn’t just a problem for the employees, who had understandably grown accustomed to keeping tabs on their earnings, but it created a looming compliance problem for the business. Australia’s Fair Work Act is vexingly inflexible when it comes to the timing of providing employees with payslips. (This is in marked contrast to the famously flexible relationship with time enjoyed by The Guide’s author Douglas Adams, particularly as relates to deadlines). Failure to fix the problem quickly would expose the business to financial penalties, legal consequences and potential union action. “Don’t Panic!”* Heeding the single most important piece of advice in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy , our customer didn’t panic. Instead, they called me to ask whether Generic Systems Australia could help solve their predicament. And - thanks to their installed GoAnywhere Managed File Transfer solution – we could! The Babel Fish* Faster than a Vogon invited to a poetry recital**, our Solutions Architect revised the customer’s GoAnywhere automated file transfer process. GoAnywhere was already collecting the PGP-encrypted PDF from the new payroll system via SFTP, decrypting it, and transferring it to the customer’s Human Resources system. He added to that automated transfer process new logic which split the PDF pages, correctly formatting the output and allowing for payslips of varying page lengths. GoAnywhere was, in effect, performing the role of a computerised Babel Fish. And, thanks to GoAnywhere’s easy to use drag-and-drop interface, it took our Solutions Architect less than half a day to set up the workflows. He didn’t even need a towel***. “If you ever need help again…”* There’s no need to go to the ends of the universe**** to get expert help on file transfers and translations. At Generic Systems Australia , we’re Australia and New Zealand’s experts in helping business take advantage of every one of GoAnywhere’s many capabilities. We’ve assisted hundreds of organisations to automate their data flows, making their file transfers resilient, secure and reliable, and boosting their efficiency. If you’d like to discuss how we can boost your organisation’s efficiency, please feel welcome to contact me . I’m always happy to have an obligation-free chat and explain how easily we can transition you from your current approach to a galaxy-leading level of productivity. At Generic Systems Australia, we’re your local experts in data transfer. _______________________________________________________________________________________ * A direct quote from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy . ** In The Guide , Vogon poetry is described as the third worst in the universe, surpassed only by the poetry of the Azgoths of Kria and the late Paula Nancy Millstone Jennings. It's so bad, it's often used as a form of torture, causing physical pain to the listener. *** The Guide describes a towel as the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have - not just useful for practical purposes like warmth, sunbathing, or even as a weapon, but also with significant psychological value. A hitchhiker who knows where their towel is is seen as someone together and capable, as it implies they also possess other essential items. **** The Guide describes Milliways, the Restaurant at the End of the Universe, as being enclosed in a time bubble and offering a unique floorshow featuring the end of the universe. Previous Next

< News Companies Urged to "Assume You've Been Breached" 28 July 2026 The Australian Cyber Security Centre (CSC) - part of Australia’s top intelligence gathering agency – has urged organisations to adopt an “assumed breach mindset”. Put simply it’s advising companies to approach their cyber security on the basis that a breach has either already occurred or is imminent . Defeatist…? That’s not defeatism. It’s a practical evidence‑based shift in mindset driven by the speed, scale, and sophistication of modern cyber threats. ACSC’s rationale is straightforward. Attackers no longer rely on exotic zero‑days or elite skills. They exploit weak credentials, legacy systems, unpatched software, misconfigurations, and human behaviour - all common in organisations. Once they’ve gained access, they move quickly, quietly, and laterally. By the time a traditional perimeter‑focused security model detects them, the damage may already be done. Flipping the Traditional Mindset An assumed‑breach mindset flips the traditional corporate IT approach. Instead of asking, “How do we keep attackers out?” the ACSC encourages organisations to ask, “How do we limit what an attacker can do once they’re in?” This shift drives a different set of behaviours: continuous monitoring, rapid detection, containment, segmentation, least‑privilege access, and rigorous credential hygiene. It also forces leaders to confront uncomfortable truths about legacy technology, technical debt, and the fragility of critical business systems. The ACSC is clear that this mindset isn’t just a technical posture, it’s a governance posture. Boards and executives must treat cyber risk as a business risk rather than an IT issue. That means investing in modern platforms, reducing reliance on end‑of‑life systems, enforcing Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), uplifting logging and monitoring, and ensuring incident response plans assume internal compromise from day one. The organisations that thrive in the current threat landscape aren’t the ones with perfect defences. They’re the ones that plan for failure, limit blast radius, and respond with speed and clarity. The Mindset and MFT Managed File Transfer (MFT) directly helps organisations adopt an assumed breach mindset by ensuring that even if an attacker infiltrates the network, data in transit and at rest remains heavily protected, tracked, and contained. Rather than relying on network perimeter security to keep data safe, MFT operates on the principle that the surrounding environment may be compromised, safeguarding the data itself. This includes: Data-Centric Encryption: MFT encrypts data while stored and while in transit. Even if an attacker has successfully breached the network and intercepts the files, the data remains unreadable and useless without the decryption keys. Tamper-Evident Auditing: Comprehensive, automated logs trace exactly who accessed, sent, or received a file. In an assumed breach scenario, these pristine audit trails are vital for forensic teams to quickly pinpoint what data was exposed. Micro-Segmentation of Data Flows: MFT removes files from vulnerable, shared network drives and places them in isolated, secure repositories. This restricts an attacker's ability to move laterally across the network to steal sensitive data. Strict Access Control: MFT platforms enforce role-based access control and MFA. If an attacker compromises a basic user account, MFT prevents them from accessing high-value file transfer workflows. Centralised Visibility: Instead of employees using unmonitored "Shadow IT" tools (such as personal cloud storage), MFT funnels all transfers through a single, monitored gateway. This enables security teams to easily spot anomalous data movements that indicate an active breach. Local Help on Hand At Generic Systems Australia, we’re Australia’s and New Zealand’s deep local experts in MFT. A top ten MFT partner for Fortra globally, we have many years of experience helping organisations from small to multinational install and leverage the world’s leading MFT, GoAnywhere . Let us know if you’d like to learn more about how GoAnywhere MFT can help you follow the ACSC’s advice. Previous Next

< News ‘Cyber Trust’ needed to tap EOFY splurge 25 June 2024 Australians are shifting their End of Financial Year (EOFY) shopping focus to online deals and security, as they spend an estimated $10.1B in EOFY sales this month. New research from PayPal indicates that 38% of Australians plan to participate in EOFY sales this year. 42% of those say they will primarily shop online. Despite the growing trend of online shopping, almost all Australians (93%) are concerned about online security. Fake retail sites have begun to use generative AI to appear more convincing, and 40% of Australians are more concerned about their online security now than they were a year ago. Implications for Retailers Growing customer anxiety about e-commerce makes it more important than ever before for companies to establish trust in the security of their systems. With customers beginning to question the security of a company’s systems before handing over credit card and other information, companies need to be able to provide reassurance - and proof – that their transactions and personal data will indeed be secure. In fact, actively promoting the security of company systems may even become a point of positive marketing differentiation for companies that get ahead of these concerns. Earning Customer Trust A proactive and layered strategy for storing, transferring and securing data is essential for storing customer data, and effecting online transactions. Secure managed file transfer, secure content engines, secure digital rights management, and employee education combine to create the optimal way to prevent data theft and cyber breaches. At Generic Systems Australia , we recommend the class-leading secure managed file transfer solution, GoAnywhere MFT , to keep data safe - at rest, and in transit. Coupled with our Advanced Threat Protection Bundle , we enable organisations to safely store and transmit only the customer data they intend, without exposing their systems to malware. If you’d like to learn more about how to earn potential customers’ trust in your data handling practices through layered cyber defences, please feel welcome to get in touch with me, Bradley Copson ( mailto:bradley@gensys.com.au ). I’m always happy to have an obligation-free discussion, and even offer you a zero-cost Proof of Concept. At Generic Systems Australia , we’re your Local Experts in Secure Managed File Transfer. Previous Next

< News New Cyber Laws Impose New Business Obligations 16 Oct 2024 Australia’s federal government last week introduced much-anticipated legislation to parliament which will revolutionise Australia’s cyber security preparedness. If passed as expected, the new laws will impose new compliance and reporting requirements on local businesses. Govt Intent Designed to protect businesses and consumers from the growing scourge of cyber crime, the Cyber Security Act 2024 is Australia’s first standalone cyber security legislation. Introducing the Act, Minister for Cyber Security, Tony Burke, said that – like IT systems themselves - legislation needed to be hardened to protect national security and economic stability. He described the package as providing a clear legislative framework for contemporary, whole-of-economy issues which would identify and respond to new and emerging cyber threats. Seven Initiatives There are seven initiatives under the 2023-2030 Australian Cyber Security Strategy which collectively address gaps in current legislation to: Mandate minimum cyber security standards for smart devices; Introduce mandatory ransomware reporting for certain businesses to report ransom payments; Introduce a ‘limited use’ obligation for the National Cyber Security Coordinator and the Australian Signals Directorate; and Establish a Cyber Incident Review Board. SOCI Reforms The legislation will also progress and implement reforms under the Security of Critical Infrastructure Act 2018 (SOCI Act): Clarifying existing obligations in relation to systems holding business critical data; Simplifying information sharing across industry and Government; Introducing Government powers to direct entities to address serious deficiencies within their risk management programs; and Moving regulation for the security of telecommunications into the SOCI Act. The SOCI Act reforms will also expand current Government assistance measures to ensure Government can step in as a last resort to manage the consequences of significant incidents. Govt Empowered Changes to government assistance measures will empower the Government to gather information or direct entities to take or refrain from certain actions, on authorisation from the Minister for Home Affairs, in response to a serious incident. Characterising the legislation as a significant step towards his government’s vision of becoming a world leader in cyber security by 2030, Tony Burke said: “We know government has to lead the way on cyber, but we also know we can’t do it alone. This is why these new laws have been consulted extensively with business. “To achieve Australia’s vision of being a world leader in cyber security by 2030, we need the unified effort of government, industry and the community.” New Business Obligations Legal firm A&O Shearman cautioned that the new Cyber Bill will introduce several new critical areas of compliance and reporting. It said businesses must take heed of these new obligations, and ensure they put in place robust cyber security measures. • Ransomware Reporting Obligations : Entities impacted by cyber security incidents and making ransomware payments must report these payments within 72 hours. The aim of this obligation is to improve the detection and response to ransomware incidents, thereby reducing their impact. Failure to report can result in civil penalties. • Security Standards for Smart Devices : The Cyber Bill mandates that manufacturers and suppliers of smart devices comply with specified security standards. This is crucial for businesses involved in the production or distribution of smart devices. Non-compliance can result in compliance notices, stop notices, and recall notices. These measures are designed to ensure that smart devices are secure and do not pose a risk to users. • Protected or Limited Use of Incident Information : The Cyber Bill includes provisions to ensure that information provided about cyber security incidents is used or disclosed only for permitted purposes, with strict limitations on using this information for civil or regulatory actions against the reporting entity. • Cyber Incident Review Board : The Cyber Bill establishes a Cyber Incident Review Board tasked with reviewing certain cyber security incidents and making recommendations. The Board has the authority to request and require documents from entities. Non-compliance may result in civil penalties. A&O Shearman said organisations should make sure they implement security standards in compliance with the specified security measures currently provided for in the Cyber Bill, and make sure they can comply with the ransomware reporting obligations, including the timelines foreseen in the Cyber Bill. Meeting New Requirements Criminal syndicates target organisations which haven’t adequately protected their data transfers and systems access. Defending against them requires a multi-layered strategy which includes robust data transfer protection, multifactor authentication and employee training. Managed File Transfer (MFT) solutions such as the class-leading GoAnywhere MFT encrypt data at rest and in transit, complying with the highest data security standards - including the US’s and Europe’s stringent HIPAA, HITECH, PCI DSS, SOX, and GDPR. MFT manages inbound and outbound file transfers across an organisation, using industry-standard file transfer protocols such as SFTP, FTPS, and AS2 to send files securely, and encryption standards such as Open PGP and AES to protect data in transit and at rest. GoAnywhere MFT also provides audit reports, which will help organisations meet new reporting and compliance needs. All file transfer and administrator activity is stored and easily searchable. To help organisations report on file transfer activity and remain compliant with the new legislation, these audit logs can be automatically generated and provided as PDFs. 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 Expertise on Hand Generic Systems Australia are your local experts in Managed File Transfer solutions. We’ve assisted dozens of organisations across the Asia-Pacific region to secure their data and keep cybercriminals at bay. If you’d like to discuss improving your cybersecurity, 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. Previous Next

< News Stop playing Cyber Security Whack-a-Mole! 27 Aug 2024 The increasing number and sophistication of cyber incursion attempts is stretching corporate IT departments to their limits. No sooner is one attempt identified and blocked, but another pops up. Georgia in Accounts just clicked on a bogus link in a phishing email. Rowan in Marketing is about to send a spreadsheet containing sensitive customer information to a direct marketing agency. Arush from Sales doesn’t realise the bank account details he’s emailing to HR are about to be intercepted in a “man-in-the-middle” attack. The CEO’s personal assistant, Grace, doesn’t realise she’s corresponding with an AI bot designed to cleverly gather identity information about her boss. It’s relentless - a new cyber attack every six minutes! 1 High Stakes The escalating frequency of incursions means a company’s stressed-out IT team must stay vigilant. In this high-stakes game of cyber security Whack-a-Mole, the cost of failure is simply too high: the cost of cybercrime to businesses has increased by 14% year-on-year1. share markets punish companies which fail to safeguard their data2. class actions – by those whose personal data was stolen, and shareholders seeking compensation for share devaluations – ensue3. damaged customer trust stymies revenue and market share growth4. cyber insurance premiums skyrocket5. Ditch that Rubber Mallet Wouldn’t it be great if there was a way your team could opt out of the never-ending game of cyber security Whack-a-Mole…? A way to automate your organisation’s cyber defences, assigning cyber sentries to detect and block cyberthieves, whenever and wherever they pop up? Good news – there is! And it’s surprisingly affordable and effective. A proactive and layered strategy for storing, transferring and securing data is essential for keeping cyberthieves at bay. The foundation of that approach is a technology called “Managed File Transfer”. Paired with secure content engines and secure digital rights management, Managed File Transfer (MFT) is the optimal way to prevent data theft and cyber breaches. An MFT solution such as the class-leading GoAnywhere MFT keeps your organisation’s valuable data safe - at rest, and in transit. Coupled with an Advanced Threat Protection Bundle , it enables organisations to safely collaborate without exposing their systems or team to the risks of malware. This automated defence system protects your data in three important ways: 1. Prevents files containing malware from being shared. GoAnywhere with Advanced Threat Protection scans all inbound file transfers. It can also detect and automatically strip out active content like embedded malware, triggered executables, scripts, or macros used to extract or hold sensitive data hostage. This “sanitisation” of files and emails doesn’t delay delivery, even as it guards against today's leading malware and ransomware (e.g. CryptoLocker, CryptoWall, TorrentLocker, Dridex Dyre, BlackEnergy, etc.) and tomorrow's even more sophisticated threat variants. 2. Blocks sensitive data from being shared. Files with Personal Identifiable Information or other sensitive data can be prevented from being transferred. GoAnywhere with Advanced Threat Protection can inspect file contents, and then stop and block files from being shared, based on policies you define. 3. Redacts sensitive information from files before transfer. GoAnywhere with Advanced Threat Protection can ensure sensitive data is neither transmitted nor received, detecting and/or removing geotags, document properties, email addresses, and other metadata from documents, and replacing sensitive text with asterisks. Using Optical Character Recognition, it can even remove text contained in scanned images. “The only winning move is not to play” 6. In today’s interconnected business environment, ever-increasing cyber attacks are inevitable. However, foiling these attacks no longer requires your IT team to play a never-ending game of cyber security Whack-a-Mole. At Generic Systems Australia , we’ve helped hundreds of business leaders and IT teams across the Asia-Pacific region rest easy, knowing that their valuable data is protected by the automated sentries of GoAnywhere with Advanced Threat Protection. We can do the same for you. It’s surprisingly affordable, and our Migration Services mean you can keep running your business without disruption as we you transition to a more secure approach. In fact, we’re so confident in the capabilities and business case for our MFT solutions that we’re prepared to offer you a zero-cost Proof of Concept. If you’d like to take me up on this offer, or perhaps just discuss how your organisation’s file transfers can be made more efficient and secure, please feel welcome to contact me , Bradley Copson. I’m always happy to have an obligation-free discussion. At Generic Systems Australia , we’re your local experts in Secure Managed File Transfer. Sources: 1. Australian Signals Directorate Cyber Threat Report 2023 2. For example, Medibank Private’s share price plunged more than 20% in the weeks following its loss of the personal information of 9.7m Australians. 3. For example, Medibank Private is facing class actions by both shareholders and consumers alleging “breaches of the company’s duty of care to protect consumer information, manage risks and make timely disclosures to shareholders”. Optus Communications is also subject to a class action alleging “Optus failed to protect, or take reasonable steps to protect, the personal information of its current and former customers”. 4. For example, Optus Communications saw its customer growth halved in the quarter following its systems being breached. 5. Australian Financial Review 12 September 2022: “Cyber insurance premiums soar 80pc as claims surge”. 6. A quote from the 1983 John Badham film, “WarGames”. Previous Next

< News Legacy Tech Threatens Your Valuable Data 17 Mar 2026 The Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) has published a warning about the cyber security threat posed by legacy technology. ASD defines legacy technology as “any technology no longer supported by the manufacturer, developer or vendor”. These technologies don’t receive important security updates and patches, and this makes them much more vulnerable to cyber attacks.  However, the threat isn’t only to the legacy systems themselves. Cyber thieves can also exploit vulnerabilities in legacy technology to gain access to the modern systems that your organisation relies on.  The ASD says that managing legacy technology is a priority in maintaining the overall cyber security of your organisation. They counsel replacing it with technology that is still receiving support and updates from the manufacturer, developer or vendor. Legacy Scripts A related example of a legacy technology that’s way past it’s use-by date is the use of file transfer scripts to move sensitive data between systems. For years, organisations relied on home‑grown file transfer scripts to shuttle data between systems, partners, and applications. Scripts were simple, cheap, and easy to tweak. However, in today’s environment - where security needs are heightened, data volumes more immense, and compliance obligations mandatory - these scripts have quietly become legacy technology. Their limitations aren’t just inconvenient; they introduce operational and security risks that modern organisations should no longer tolerate. Scripts are brittle by design. A small change in a directory name, a certificate expiry, or a vendor endpoint can cause silent failures. Because scripts rarely include centralised logging or alerting, teams often discover issues only after a downstream process breaks. This reactive approach to failures is the opposite of what modern IT environments require. Add in the fact that scripts are usually maintained by a handful of individuals—often without documentation—and you end up with a fragile web of tribal knowledge that becomes a liability when staff move on. Scripts are also inherently insecure. Hard‑coded credentials, inconsistent encryption practices, and ad‑hoc error handling create gaps that attackers can exploit. Regulators increasingly expect organisations to demonstrate control, auditability, and governance over data movement. Scripts simply weren’t built for that world. Modernise with MFT Managed File Transfer (MFT) platforms like the class-leading GoAnywhere MFT solve these problems by replacing scattered scripts with a centralised, policy‑driven system. MFT provides end‑to‑end encryption, automated workflows, real‑time monitoring, and detailed audit trails. Instead of relying on custom code, organisations gain a consistent, supportable framework that scales with business needs. MFT agents extend this capability to remote servers and cloud environments, enabling secure, automated transfers without manual intervention. Replacing legacy scripts with MFT isn’t just an upgrade - it’s a strategic shift toward reliability, visibility, and security. It frees teams from maintenance drudgery and provides organisations the confidence that their critical data flows are controlled, compliant, and future‑ready. Here to Help At Generic Systems Australia, we are Australia’s and New Zealand’s experts in MFT. Our decades of experience and unparalleled expertise have made us Fortra’s Top MFT Partner for the world’s leading MFT solution, GoAnywhere , in Oceania. If you’d like a no-cost, no-obligation discussion about how we could help you simply and affordably adopt an MFT solution, please feel welcome to get in touch with us . Previous Next

< News Neil-Proof Your Data! 9 July 2026 Neil the Seal’s antics have demonstrated that moving a massive payload from point A to point B requires a safe, controlled pathway.😉 Managed File Transfer is the digital equivalent of Neil-handling. It creates carefully planned and controlled routes for your data so there are no unexpected detours, messy disruptions or surprises. If you’d like to discuss creating secure, governed movement for your business data - no matter how big the file – let me know. I’m always happy to demonstrate how Generic Systems Australia can deploy the world’s leading MFT anywhere in Oceania. Even Tasmania (Neil permitting, of course!) Previous Next

< News Data Breach Costs Escalate in 2024 14 Aug 2024 $4.26M! That’s the average cost of a data breach in Australia in 2024, according to new research released by IBM. The figure – a record high – represents a whopping 27% increase since 2020. However, while the average cost of a data breach continues to escalate, the types of cyber breaches experienced by Australian organisations continue to be the usual suspects. Under Attack IBM’s research found that Phishing continues to be the most common type of attack vector , with 22% of breaches starting this way. Stolen or compromised credentials were the second most common, accounting for 17% of breaches. Malicious insiders were responsible for the most costly attacks, at 8% of incidents. It took Australian companies on average 266 days to identify/contain cyber incidents. This lengthy period contributed to high detection and escalation costs , which remain the most expensive aspect of a breach, with post-breach response and lost business the second most costly. Almost a third of data breaches involved data stored across multiple environments : public cloud, private cloud, and on-premises systems. Breaches across multiple environments took 13% longer to identify and contain. Organisations with too few cybersecurity staff paid the heaviest price, with an average cost per breach $2.7M higher than organisations with less exposure. However, involving law enforcement saved some ransomware victims as much as $1.5M in costs. Automated Defences Help Companies which didn’t use security AI and automation experienced significantly higher breach costs ($5.21M) than those which did, and it also took them an additional 99 days to identify and contain breaches. The research found that 65% of surveyed Australian organisations leveraged these technologies. However, attackers too are exploiting new opportunities presented by AI. For example, increasingly convincing deepfakes are enabling ever more effective social engineering attacks. Avoiding Costly Cyber Breaches To protect an organisation’s valuable data, it must be protected when it’s stored and while it’s “in motion”. As the research found, automation can ensure this takes place with the entirety of an organisation’s data transfers. Managed File Transfer (MFT) solutions such as the class-leading GoAnywhere MFT encrypt data at rest and in transit, complying with the highest data security standards (including the US’s and Europe’s HIPAA, HITECH, PCI DSS, SOX, and GDPR). MFT manages inbound and outbound file transfers across an organisation, using industry-standard file transfer protocols such as SFTP, FTPS, and AS2 to send files securely, and encryption standards such as Open PGP and AES 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 your organisation, and reducing opportunities for employees to lose or mishandle sensitive data. Local Expertise Ready to Help Generic Systems Australia are your local experts in Managed File Transfer and Advanced Threat Protection. We’ve assisted hundreds of organisations across the Asia-Pacific region to secure their data and keep cybercriminals at bay. If you’d like to discuss improving your cybersecurity, 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. Previous Next

< Case Studies SES Encrypts and Audits Global Client Data Decad es of experience helping Asia-Pacific customers have established Generic Systems Australia as our region’s local experts in secure managed file transfer. In this case study, we share how global experts in operational resilience – SES – take advantage of GoAnywhere MFT , the world’s leading MFT solution , to manage the transfer of more than 2,000 files daily. Software escrow agreements are becoming increasingly common for organisations worldwide. Medium and large enterprises, especially those in retail, energy, and financing, rely on these agreements to provide coverage for the unique source code, files, and other software assets critical to a company’s intellectual property. To prevent loss of this information during sudden downtime, a data breach, or natural disaster, organisations create a software escrow agreement with a third-party vendor to protect and back up their data. The third party then takes the data, creates an inventory of everything that’s to be escrowed, and puts the source code and other assets into a vault for maximum protection. SES is a third-party vendor that provides software escrow agreements, intellectual property protection, and cybersecurity risk management globally. Based in Manchester, UK, SES has more than twenty years of experience providing security to more than 2,500 professionals in 40+ countries. "Dealing with software escrow agreements is our bread and butter," said Tom Sweet, Information Security and Systems Manager at SES. It’s an area of constant growth and adjusting to keep clients happy and source code regularly updated. We are continually developing and innovating.” Often, SES does this with tools such as GoAnywhere MFT. For SES, GoAnywhere Managed File Transfer (MFT) has been a well-used and finely-tuned addition to its cybersecurity solutions. With the software in place, it performs on average nearly 2,000 uploads for clients per day — a mix of small and large files — as well as help monthly and quarterly businesses with their source code deposits. Switched from Manual File Transfers to Managed File Transfer Before GoAnywhere came into the picture, SES used a web gateway, an AWS-backed instance, to receive source code for its clients. It also occasionally used old-fashioned file transfer methods: physical disks and SD cards that were tracked, signed for, and had a direct chain of custody which could be followed. While this mixed process — AWS-backed instance and physical mail — worked at the time, it still lacked the ability to track user and file transfer activity. Having an audit trail was important to the business. When auditing also became a client requirement, SES looked for a way to streamline, structure, encrypt, and audit the exchange of data. SES handled a high volume of file transfers and needed robust security practices for the data it processed and stored every week. So the it was time to find a centralised solution which could do all of this and meet its trading partners’ needs. The tracked-and-signed file transfer processes SES used led to an evaluation of GoAnywhere MFT, a robust and fast-growing product which used similar techniques (tracking, signing, and a clear chain of custody) for sensitive file transfers. GoAnywhere was a hit. It took Tom Sweet mere days to learn the product. He attended two webinars, then jumped in and followed his intuition. The turnaround had to be quick, but the learning curve was straightforward. SES implemented GoAnywhere across its Linux systems and has depended on it ever since for day-to-day file transfers, streamlined encryption, and consistent auditing. Benefit#1: File Encryption and Security With GoAnywhere fully implemented, SES has been able to ensure all file transfers sent by its clients are encrypted in transit and sent to the right place. SES has also ensured that encryption keys are held separately. These are just two of the strict requirements SES needs to follow for its clients in order to stand out in a sea of escrow and backup service platforms. "It’s risk versus security," Tom said. "With HR and payroll data, the risk is high, so the security needs to be high as well."nearly 2,000 uploads for clients per day — a mix of small and large files — as well as help monthly and quarterly businesses with their source code deposits. Benefit#2: Fast File Transfer & Trading Partner Setup New trading partners and file transfer users can be set up in minutes. "Less than that if I’m rushed," Tom said. "The quickest ones we’ve had people test: I’ve sent the email saying here’s your username, sent the password out over SMS, and people test the log-in within 10 minutes." Sweet uses private and public keys to ensure the encryption and validity of the new transfers he creates. When the file transfers are executed, most run, start to finish, in less than 30 minutes. Benefit #3: Ease of Use & Automation "The main thing we use GoAnywhere for is managing users, auditing the logs, and giving users a secure gateway into our systems that would normally be firewalled," Tom, said. All of this is simple with GoAnywhere, and he believes the product’s biggest strength is its ease of use. Whether he needs to streamline, update, or re-deploy the product across systems and users, the process has been painless. Automation is another huge benefit of GoAnywhere. SES use GoAnywhere to do the heavy lifting for SaaS-based clients. These clients transfer large amounts of source code end data that are pushed into a SaaS escrow and captured in real time. "We help these clients configure a script that connects over SFTP to a GoAnywhere service," Tom said. "GoAnywhere then audits those transfers." The product securely transfers and audits at the same time, all automatically for nearly 60 clients who need their source code updated on a daily or monthly frequency. This enables SES to automate on Windows and Linux to meet the security requirements of each client. GoAnywhere’s granular security controls enabled Sweet to make GoAnywhere as safe and security-driven as possible against internal risks and user errors. "I stripped it back to who can do what," he said. Previously shared passwords were locked down. Web users were restricted to only the areas of the product they needed, and file storage was controlled — files could only be stored in the right areas of the network. "If someone in a company wanted access to the transfers, or to the systems, they could break the loop to that cycle. So that’s why we vault [client data] and back it up in an encrypted format. We make sure the file transfers are encrypted; that’s key too." Benefit#4: Regulation Compliance Many SES clients have compliance requirements which SES must meet. To achieve these needs, SES has applied ISO 27001 compliance across all clients to ensure all information sent between SES and other companies is secure. "ISO 27001 mandates that we create policies, processes, and procedures which we can prove using evidence-based systems," Tom said. "This says, ‘Okay, by default, you [the client] get all of this [security]. All files will be encrypted, and all second factor messages will be sent out-of-band so they aren’t sent over the same method of communication, and so on." Meanwhile, while encryption is the same and applied for everyone, clients can choose if they want to use multi-factor authentication (MFA) with passwords or SSH keys for an extra layer of security. GoAnywhere offers multi-factor authentication methods, including keys and certificates, for increased file protection. SES also uses GoAnywhere to encrypt every backup of escrow data that is then kept in offline vaults. "This ensures there’s 99.9% availability," Tom said. "No one thinks escrow is important until it’s too late," he added, so SES provides these offline backups with GoAnywhere’s help to give organisations peace of mind. Benefit#5: Auditing and Administration One of the biggest justifications for purchasing GoAnywhere was its auditing functionality. Tom and his team uses these audit logs to see who is connecting to their SFTP servers, what they’re doing on those servers, and how much they’ve done. This level of detail is critical, especially when dealing with sensitive escrow documents, software assets, and source code. "The log-in and auditing process in GoAnywhere is important for our information security standards. We audit the transfers not just to be able to take them securely, but also to prove who has been on and transferred what and when. The audit trail is important." If Sweet needs to change something, GoAnywhere makes it easy. Admins can make modifications or adjustments to their processes to keep constant with security requirements. "We can do this with GoAnywhere very easily," he said. "Then we just send out a new host key to our clients." What’s Next: Remote Agents and Advanced Workflows Right now, SES retrieves files from clients. But in the near future, it hopes to roll out GoAnywhere Remote Agents and GoAnywhere Advanced Workflows for customers who want zero involvement in the file transfer process. With these features enabled, Sweet and his team will be able to pull data from each client when needed without requiring manual work or engagement on their end. "Remote agents and advanced workflows will enable us to go out, talk to, and pull the requests for daily, weekly, or monthly file transfers," Tom explained. One Admin, One Product Tom Sweet has used GoAnywhere for four years. As the main product administrator, he’s always looking for new ways to implement the software, integrate it with other web and cloud services, roll it out as part of security-client processes, and improve the success of GoAnywhere at SES. "I want to get as much out of the product as I can," Tom said, reflecting on being the singular admin for GoAnywhere. "The more I push it out, the more we get a better return from our customer experience." And for any organisation — SES included — customer satisfaction is top priority. GoAnywhere’s encryption, automation, and ease of use help make that happen. 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< News GoAnywhere MFT: a Universal Connector for Your IT System 16 July 2026 In today’s hybrid IT world, data needs to move securely, quickly and efficiently between legacy servers, cloud APIs, and partner systems that may not speak the same language. GoAnywhere – the world’s leading Managed File Transfer solution - acts as a universal connector, bridging these disparate systems. By centralising workflows, encryption, and authentication, GoAnywhere eliminates the chaos of juggling multiple protocols and provides your IT team with a single pane of glass to manage every transfer, schedule jobs, and monitor activity across your enterprise. Better still, it provides complete auditability of every data transfer, relieving the burden of compliance and making troubleshooting a breeze. Whether you’re integrating with a decades‑old mainframe or a cutting‑edge SaaS platform, GoAnywhere MFT ensures your data flows smoothly, safely, and compliantly, no matter how complex the connections. At Generic Systems Australia we’re experts in helping Australian and NZ organisations take advantage of GoAnywhere MFT’s versatility. In fact, we’ve assisted businesses of all sizes to protect their customer data, automate and secure their file transfers, keeping their operations running smoothly. If you have an hour to spare, we can easily demonstrate the power and ease of use of GoAnywhere’s many capabilities. Simply let us know and we’ll be happy to set up an obligation-free chat. Previous Next