< News Ransomware payments no guarantee 3 Oct 2025 Paying a ransomware demand is no guarantee that your precious business data will be restored. Research by Veeam found that fewer and fewer companies are actually getting their data back after a ransomware attack. For them, paying the ransom merely makes the full cost of business recovery even greater. Veeam found that only about a third of businesses who paid up recovered their data, down from around half in the prior year. The number of organisations who were able to recover their data without paying up in the same time period was just under a third. Ransomware accounts for 11% of cyber attacks reported to the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD). As of 30 May this year, Australian businesses with an annual turnover of more than $3M must report any ransomware or cyber extortion payments to the government within 72 hours of making the payment or becoming aware of it. At Generic Systems Australia we have decades of experience helping local businesses keep cyber thieves at bay through deployment of the world’s best MFT, GoAnywhere . If you’d like a no-cost, no-obligation discussion about how we could help you, please feel welcome to get in touch with me. Previous Next

< News R.I.P. FTP 5 June 2026 Sysadmins have rung the death knell for File Transfer Protocol (FTP). Insecure, unmanageable at scale, and fundamentally incompatible with today’s compliance and automation expectations - FTP is no longer fit for purpose in modern enterprises. FTP's Flawed DNA Reddit discussions repeatedly highlight that FTP’s biggest flaw is baked into its DNA: no encryption. Credentials and data are exposed in clear text, making interception trivial. Many organisations now block it entirely due to risk. But beyond security, FTP simply can’t keep up with modern operational demands. It lacks audit trails, automation, and any meaningful governance. Even browsers like Chrome and Firefox have abandoned FTP because it no longer meets contemporary standards for speed, reliability, or security. Redditors also point out the operational drag: manual clean ups, unreliable synchronisation, and slow transfers that crumble under load. In 2026, FTP feels like using a butter knife as a screwdriver - technically possible, but reckless and outdated. While SFTP, FTPS, AS2, AS3/AS4 and HTTPS each address inherent weaknesses in FTP, there’s a better and more comprehensive solution which does all of that and also improves operational efficiency. The Rise of MFT Managed File Transfer (MFT) has emerged as a strong enterprise engine for file transfers because it addresses the problems FTP leaves on the table – and more. Leading MFTs, such as GoAnywhere MFT , provide: • End to end encryption and hardened protocols • Detailed audit logs for compliance-heavy industries • Automation that eliminates brittle scripting • Scalability for large, frequent, or complex transfers • Centralised governance across partners, systems, and business units GoAnywhere enables large HTTPS transfers, integrates with and automates business workflows, and provides a secure, user-friendly interface. By providing stronger security, compliance support, and operational efficiency than FTP ever could, MFT is the logical successor for enterprises that need reliability and visibility at scale. 86 FTP SysAdmins are right. FTP isn’t just old - it’s unsafe, unscalable, and ungovernable. Modern enterprises need secure, automated, auditable file movement. MFT is the responsible path forward. If you’d like to learn more about how MFT can replace risky FTP transfers, get in touch with me . Generic Systems Australia has decades of experience, and we’re one of Fortra’s top ten MFT partners globally. In fact, we’re Australia’s local experts in MFT. Previous Next

< News Paying a Ransomware Demand is No Guarantee 31 Aug 2026 Paying a ransom is no guarantee you’ll get your data back. Recent research by Rubrik shows that Australia is now one of the world’s most vulnerable ransomware targets. Worse, attackers are increasingly destroying or corrupting backup systems, meaning even organisations that pay often cannot recover quickly, if at all. The most ransomware‑targeted nation Rubrik Zero Labs’ research shows Australia recorded the highest proportion of ransomware attacks globally, with 35% of organisations hit in the past 12 months. One major driver of this surge: Australian organisations keep paying. Rubrik’s research found that that the majority of Australian victims paid a ransom (second only to Singapore). Rubrik’s analysts were blunt in their observations on their findings: paying ransoms fuels the criminal ecosystem and encourages repeat targeting. Backup systems are being compromised too Rubrik’s telemetry highlights a critical shift: attackers now target backup and recovery systems directly. 78% of Australian organisations said attackers partially compromised their backup systems. 35% said backups were completely compromised. This is why paying a ransom doesn’t guarantee recovery - the systems needed to restore data are often damaged. Rubrik says the operational impact is severe: No Australian organisations said they recovered within an hour. 23% took more than 24 hours. 34% said they believed full recovery would take at least a week. Cloud and SaaS are widening the attack surface Australian organisations are rapidly expanding their digital footprint. 98% use 2–5 cloud/SaaS platforms and most plan to increase cloud/SaaS usage. This leads to key challenges such as securing sensitive data across multiple environments, data/privacy compliance/privacy and other complications that arise from a lack of centralised management. MFT helps prevent ransomware attacks Modern Managed File Transfer (MFT) platforms provide a critical layer of defence against the exact weaknesses Rubrik identifies. A robust MFT solution: Eliminates risky manual file handling , a common ransomware entry point. Encrypts all data in transit and at rest , preventing credential theft from exposing sensitive files. Centralises access control , reducing the identity sprawl attackers exploit. Provides tamper ‑ proof audit trails , making it harder for attackers to hide lateral movement. Automates file workflows , removing insecure ad‑hoc transfers that often bypass security policy. In a landscape where attackers are compromising backups, stealing credentials, and exploiting cloud complexity, MFT gives organisations a governed, hardened data‑movement layer - reducing exposure and strengthening resilience before an attack ever begins. On Hand in Australia to Help At Generic Systems Australia we have decades of experience helping local businesses keep cyber thieves at bay through deployment of the world’s best MFT, GoAnywhere . If you’d like a no-cost, no-obligation discussion about how we could help you, please feel welcome to get in touch with me. Previous Next

< News Get Smart Agents to Automate Your File Transfers 10 Mar 2026 Many organisations’ file transfers have grown organically over years - an assortment of shell scripts, scheduled tasks, ad‑hoc utilities, and “that one server nobody touches because it just works”. While such a patchwork might survive early growth, it becomes more fragile and risky as data volumes increase and security expectations tighten. Would you believe there’s a much better – safer, more reliable, more scalable – way…? Recruiting Agents MFT agents are lightweight applications that do a lot of heavy lifting to automate your file transfers and workflows – remote and on-premises – throughout your enterprise, saving you time and money. If your organisation needs to move, transform, or manage files securely across different environments, deploying an MFT agent is one of the most efficient ways to do it. Agents remove the reliance on scattered FTP, FTPS, SFTP servers or home‑grown transfer scripts, replacing them with a single, governed approach to automation. How to Get Smart The simplest path is to use an MFT platform that includes both local and remote agents, such as Fortra’s GoAnywhere MFT . Its browser‑based console gives teams a central place to configure, schedule, and monitor agent‑driven transfers, along with any related business workflows. Agents can be installed on almost any system involved in file movement: Windows, Linux, UNIX, IBM i, and even cloud‑hosted servers. Once deployed, they act as lightweight workers that carry out tasks on behalf of the central MFT server. Administrators can define what each agent should do, track every action it performs, and enforce strong security controls. All communication between agents and the MFT server is encrypted using SSL/TLS, and multi‑step authentication ensures only authorised systems can connect. Staying in Control Every agent reports back to the central GoAnywhere server, giving teams complete visibility and control. Agents can process files locally - such as transforming, encrypting, or compressing them - or send them back to the MFT server for further handling. They can be deployed almost anywhere: on‑premises, in the cloud, or even at a partner’s site. Installers can be customised to suit your environment, making rollout straightforward. With agents in place, organisations can streamline a wide range of routine tasks, including: Automating and securing file transfers Facilitating workflow capabilities such as compression, decompression, data parsing, database integration, encryption and decryption, and more Scheduling file transfers to run at future dates/times Monitoring folders on agent systems for new or modified files Sending alerts if an agent file transfer failed Feeding audit data to centralised deployment of GoAnywhere reporting for visibility into all file transfers within your organisation Deploying automatic notifications if an agent goes offline Making Your Move Transitioning to smart agents is typically straightforward. At Generic Systems Australia, our Migration Service can do it for you. Many organisations find it easy enough to do for themselves. You can start by cataloguing your existing scripts - what they move, when they run, and which systems they touch. GoAnywhere enables you to replicate these behaviours as automated workflows, but with added benefits like encryption, retries, alerting, and centralised logging. Once the workflows are defined, deploy agents to the relevant servers. These lightweight components handle the local file system interactions while the MFT server orchestrates the logic. The Payoff The payoff from moving to automated MFT transfers is immediate. Security teams gain consistent encryption and policy enforcement. Operations teams gain reliability and monitoring. Developers no longer need to maintain brittle scripts or reinvent transfer logic for every new integration. And the business gains a resilient, scalable foundation for data movement - one that supports growth rather than holding it back. Replacing manual scripts with MFT agents isn’t just a technical upgrade; it’s a shift toward predictable, governed, and secure data flows. For organisations ready to modernise, it’s one of the highest‑impact changes they can make. “We Happen to Be Experts on that Subject” Generic Systems Australia is Fortra’s #1 GoAnywhere Partner in Australia and New Zealand, with decades of experience enabling organisations to defend against cyber attacks. If you’d like a no-cost, no-obligation discussion about how we could help you simply and affordably adopt an advanced MFT solution, please feel welcome to get in touch with me. Previous Next

< News MFT Platforms – Enterprises Choose Flexibility 26 Oct 2026 For much of the past decade, the standard advice was simple: “move everything to the cloud”. But for managed file transfer (MFT), reality has been more interesting. Talk to enterprise IT teams today and you'll hear a different story. Nobody is fully abandoning the cloud. But very few are making it the default, either. Smart Enterprise teams are placing each file transfer workload where it makes the most sense. And purchasing MFT solutions that can handle workloads in every environment – cloud, on-prem, and every hybrid. The Trends Cloud MFT continues to grow. One market report values the cloud MFT services market at about US$3.3B in 2026, rising to roughly US$6.5 billion by 2030. Cloud is a good fit for fast partner onboarding, elastic scale, and particularly lean teams who don't want to maintain infrastructure. But there’s a quieter shift running alongside it - cloud repatriation. A Barclays CIO survey found 86% of enterprise IT leaders plan to move at least one workload off the public cloud. MFT is a natural candidate for that rethink, for three reasons. Cost. Egress fees add up quickly for high-volume outbound transfers. One market report found a majority of CIOs with very large transfer volumes are pulling those workloads back on-premises or into co-location. That cost logic is sound. Data gravity. Much of the data behind file transfers still originates on-premises, in ERPs, mainframes and healthcare and industrial systems. Moving it to the cloud only to send it back again is wasteful. Sovereignty and compliance. Regulated industries, defence and government often need to control where data lives, who holds the keys, and when changes happen. Some environments are air-gapped altogether. The result isn't a swing from cloud to on-prem. It's hybrid: regulated and high-volume transfers stay close to home, while partner-facing and bursty workloads use the cloud. "Cloud-only" MFT's Limits Given the trends, MFT product choice really matters. But some MFT solutions are cloud-only. They promote themselves as convenient and quick to set up. But in an enterprise environment they severely limit what you can do now and into the future. Enterprise IT rarely utilises a single environment. There are legacy systems that can't leave the data centre, regulators who dictate where data can sit, OT networks with no internet path, and workloads whose economics change as volumes grow. A cloud-only platform forces you to bend your requirements around the product. That’s the opposite of “flexibility”. It’s like that couch you drop onto at the end of a busy day… comfy, but a PITA when you need to move house! The Value of Flexibility Deployment decisions rarely stay fixed. A workload that suits the cloud today may need to come back in-house next year because of cost, regulation or a change in risk appetite. The safest strategy is to avoid painting yourself into a corner. That's why GoAnywhere MFT stands out. It adapts to whichever approach your organisation needs: on-premises, hybrid or cloud. You can run it in your own data centre, deploy it in your public or private cloud, or use it as a managed service, with the same platform, workflows and controls across all of them. As your strategy evolves, your file transfer platform doesn't have to. If you're reviewing your MFT strategy, the question isn't "cloud or on-prem?" It's "will my platform let me choose - and adapt when I need to?" Local Experts on Hand Generic Systems Australia are your local experts in Managed File Transfer solutions. We’ve assisted hundreds of organisations across the Asia-Pacific region to deploy GoAnywhere, the world’s leading flexible MFT solution. Previous Next

< News Move Data Quickly and Securely with MFT 8 Oct 2026 For years, organisations lived with a false choice: move files quickly or move them securely . If you wanted airtight encryption, rigorous access controls and full auditability, you accepted slower processes, manual workarounds or clunky legacy tools. If you wanted speed, you tolerated risk from shadow IT, ad‑hoc transfers, consumer cloud drives and brittle scripts that broke at the worst possible moment. Managed File Transfer (MFT) has rewritten that equation. Leading MFTs, such as GoAnywhere , remove the trade-off. Done properly, security and efficiency reinforce each other. Strong governance accelerates operations. Automation reduces human error. Centralisation eliminates bottlenecks. The result is an organisational data environment that is faster, safer and dramatically more reliable. When you centralise, automate and govern file movement properly, you eliminate the workarounds, manual steps and risky shortcuts that drag teams down. Security becomes invisible, and efficiency becomes the default. How MFT Accelerates Your Business 1. Security without friction. GoAnywhere applies encryption, access control and compliance policies automatically. No more manual SFTP setups, no more ad‑hoc cloud uploads, no more “just email it” shortcuts. When secure processes are effortless, people stop fighting them. Everything moves faster. 2. Automation that removes human bottlenecks. Scheduled workflows, event triggers, multi‑step jobs and automatic retries mean transfers run themselves. Teams aren’t babysitting scripts or troubleshooting failed partner connections. Less manual effort equals more operational velocity. 3. Integration that eliminates delays. GoAnywhere connects directly to on‑prem systems, cloud platforms, APIs, databases and partner protocols. No custom scripts, no format conversions, no fragile glue code. When systems talk cleanly, files move quickly. 4. Visibility that accelerates response. Dashboards, logs and alerts give teams real‑time insight. Issues are spotted early, compliance reporting is instant and decision‑making speeds up. Performance Multiplier With GoAnywhere, security isn’t a trade‑off - it’s a performance multiplier. You get faster transfers, fewer errors, stronger governance and a dramatically more resilient file‑movement environment. Modern MFT proves you don’t have to sacrifice speed for safety - you can have both. Australia's and NZ's MFT Experts At Generic Systems Australia, we have many years of experience helping organisations from small to enterprise install and leverage the security and speed of an MFT solution. If you’d like to learn more about the opportunities and advantages, please feel welcome to have an exploratory discussion with me . Previous Next

< News Cybersecurity Insiders Reveal Their Top Fears 29 May 2024 A survey by Fortra has revealed cybersecurity insiders’ top concerns for the remainder of 2024. Top Concern: Phishing and Smishing (81%) Phishing is tricking individuals into clicking on malicious links in emails or on the web to steal logins, passwords, or personal information. Smishing is a text-based version of phishing, with scammers posing as trusted companies to get individuals to reveal sensitive or personal information such as credit card numbers or passwords. Concern 2: Ransomware and Malware (76%) Ransomware is software designed to hold information hostage until a payoff is made. Malware is intrusive software hackers use to steal data or to damage computer systems. Concern 3: Accidental Data Loss or Leakage (63%) Concern 4: Social Engineering (55%) Social Engineering is the tactic of manipulating, influencing, or deceiving a victim to gain control over a computer system, or to steal personal and financial information. It uses psychological manipulation to trick users into making security mistakes or giving away sensitive information. Concern 5: Third-party exposure (52%) Industry insiders are also increasingly concerned about cybercriminals leveraging Artificial Intelligence to bolster their efforts. Proactive, Layered Defences Organisations with a proactive strategy for storing, transferring and securing their data are best-placed to keep cyberthieves at bay. And those which take a layered approach - secure file transfer, secure content engines, secure digital rights management, and employee education – are leading the way in preventing data breaches. At Generic Systems Australia, we recommend the class-leading secure managed file transfer solution, GoAnywhere MFT, to help organisations tackle the risks that can come with exchanging data. When coupled with our Threat Protection bundle, organisations can more safely collaborate without exposing systems to the risks of malware even entering your organisation in the first place. Here’s how SFT Threat Protection helps mitigate risks: Stops malware from entering your environment by scanning all inbound file transfers: GoAnywhere’s anti-virus protection delivered through the Secure ICAP Gateway is unique in its ability to deny the file ever being written to disk if it contains malware. Blocks files with sensitive data from being shared: Files containing PII (personally identifiable information) or other sensitive data identified by the organisation’s policies are prevented from being transferred. Redacts sensitive data from being shared: Embedded malware, triggered executables, or macros that could hold sensitive data hostage are detected and automatically stripped out of content to be shared via MFT. Content “sanitised” in this way is then permitted to be transferred so that business continues uninterrupted. On-Prem, in the Cloud… and in Between 64% of cybersecurity insiders surveyed said that hybrid cloud was their preferred IT operating environment. A combination of an on-premises/private data centre, and public cloud service provider, is seen by many to provide the best of both worlds. Utilising this approach, the most sensitive data can be maintained inside the organisation. In fact, some organizations are bound by compliance requirements to maintain an on-premises footprint to some degree. Unfortunately, not all cloud-first developed solutions can deftly manage the interface between on-premises and cloud transfers. A comprehensive secure file transfer solution, GoAnywhere MFT is deployment-flexible, executing the on-premises/cloud interface seamlessly. It maintains security and control of data transfers between organisations and their trading partners. --- If you’d like to discuss how a secure Managed File Transfer solution can help you keep the cybercriminals at bay, please feel welcome to contact our Business Manager, Bradley Copson ( mail to: bradley@gensys.com.au ). He's 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. At Generic Systems Australia, we’re your local experts in secure Managed File Transfer. Previous Next

< Case Studies Global Insurer Uses GoAnywhere to Replace Legacy File Transfers Instead of copying and piecing together scripts for file transfers - a process which took 30-60 minutes per script – this global insurance company now uses GoAnywhere to automate and make secure its file transfer task in less than five minutes. Discovering the many other ways they could leverage GoAnywhere’s advanced features was a bonus. Decades 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 a global insurance company is saving time and money – and avoiding headaches – by using GoAnywhere MFT , the world’s leading MFT solution . For one global insurance company, having file transfer processes that work seamlessly is non-negotiable. Between needing to share data with the company’s national office, running a collaboration with a car rental company, and catering to more than a million customers, they need their file transfers to run smoothly and securely. However, the legacy systems and processes they had in place prior to 2018 were frustrating, to say the least. One of the company’s applications engineers couldn’t believe the file transfer processes they had to deal with before switching to managed file transfer software. "We had a server where a bunch of batch scripts ran and transferred files to vendors," he said. "We wrote manual scripts — 50 or 60 of them — that all ran from Task Scheduler." Because their setup lacked security and encryption features, critical information wasn’t always protected during batch transfers. Their setup didn’t have alerting or reporting abilities either. It quickly became clear that better cybersecurity strategies were needed to protect their file transfers. Convoluted Clustering The engineer’s team also wanted to cluster their systems, so the bank files they exchanged wouldn’t be interrupted by system failure or downtime. But making Task Scheduler cluster aware required knowledge of PowerShell. "It was this huge, long convoluted process," he said. "And with security in mind, we had to implement a DMZ secure gateway server to go along with a new file transfer server. Jobs would have to be scheduled on two different sets of task schedulers." The design files they created to make clustering work were crazy. There had to be an easier way. Back to Basics For this insurance company, it was time to unravel their processes and systems and go back to the basics that mattered: encryption, automation, alerting, and reporting. If they could find a solution that did all these things simply and efficiently… that would be a win. And win they did. After evaluating several managed file transfer (MFT) solutions, the engineer tried GoAnywhere MFT, the class-leading cybersecurity solution. More than Transfers The engineer and his team discovered many additional benefits during their trial of GoAnywhere: Ease of Use: GoAnywhere was powerful but not overly technical. The software was a breeze to install and easy to use. Focused on What Matters: The team was pleased to see GoAnywhere support extra functionality, like user-to-user collaboration, but even more pleased to find that GoAnywhere never lost sight of their bread-and-butter requirements: automation, auditing, and secure file transfers. Out-of-the-Box Project Designers: GoAnywhere included a drag-and-drop project designer for workflows and automation. This eliminated the need for scripting and programming. Affordability: Finally, the cost beat out the competition. GoAnywhere offered the insurance company a positive ROI that they could achieve quickly and efficiently with less of a learning curve—while still boasting all the features and functionality of other comparable solutions. A Fresh Start with MFT Once GoAnywhere was fully implemented, the global insurance company couldn’t imagine life without it. Now they meet requirements and complete key projects via several of GoAnywhere’s features: PCI DSS Compliance: The insurance company is PCI DSS certified. To ensure their member information is protected as much as possible, they are required to go above and beyond PCI DSS requirements to ensure their file transfers are compliant. GoAnywhere MFT supports PCI DSS compliance efforts through encryption, secure, industry-standard file transfer protocols, access controls for sensitive data, and detailed logging/reporting. Google Integration: After implementing GoAnywhere, the insurance company installed GoAnywhere’s Google Cloud Storage Connector. This cloud integration allows them to pull data from the cloud from two vendors they’ve partnered with. Each month, GoAnywhere transfers a file generated in-house to a Google storage bucket. Once the files are in the bucket, two of their vendors apply logic to the data for marketing purposes. The file finishes processing using the Google compute engine before GoAnywhere pulls the file back into the company’s enterprise data warehouse (EDW) system. AWS Integration: GoAnywhere’s Amazon AWS integration fulfills an important project in their environment. "We’ve used [the Amazon AWS integration] since day one," explained the company’s engineer. "It was one of the selling features for us." Improved Visibility & Centralisation Before GoAnywhere came into the picture, the engineer and a co-worker relied on Task Scheduler and batch file transfers to send and retrieve sensitive data. Their legacy setup did not have alerting, notifications, or reporting functionality. They’d need to spend precious time tracking down issues or digging into different data sources to regain some visibility. This lack of clarity was a source of frustration. A big selling point for this insurance company was GoAnywhere’s ability to provide visibility into all areas of their file transfer processes, including the data movement happening on-premises, within their cloud environment, and to their web applications. Not only does this visibility help the engineer’s team know when and where files are sent, it gives them flexibility to train new employees if needed. "Say I need more help and we’re hiring someone else," he explained. "I can say [to that new hire,] ‘Everything’s in GoAnywhere. All our jobs, anything that’s incoming, all the users. You can see who has access, you can see the agents we have deployed and what they’re doing.’ Having that [data] in a central place is just so much easier than what we’ve used in the past." Remote MFT Agents GoAnywhere’s MFT Agents module allows admins to remotely control automated file transfers and file processing from a central GoAnywhere server. With MFT agents in place, this insurance company has improved its overall security posture. They can move sensitive files between restricted servers without having to rely on insecure methods or window transfers. All of these transfers are automated, secured, and can be audited. Set for Success Instead of copying and piecing together scripts to send new file transfers (a process that took 30-60 minutes per script before), GoAnywhere can create a job in under five minutes. The team has utilised several areas of the software in a short amount of time and have exciting use cases in mind for the future. Of his favourite thing about GoAnywhere, the engineer said: "I love that I’m not on a batch file trying to deduce what’s going on. I can just visualise something [the workflow] and say ‘oh, this is what it needs.’ I can just set up a job and my coworker knows about it because now we get an email notification if it fails... Compared to what we had before, [our file transfer process] is where we need it to be." Previous Next

< News Automate Cyber Security to Help Manage the Staff Shortage 7 Oct 2025 Automating your cyber security is one key way organisations can deal with the worsening scarcity of skilled cyber security staff in Australia. ISACA’s  State of Cybersecurity 2025 report shows that cyber security teams in Australia remain stretched thin. More than half (54%) say they are understaffed. Even more (58%) say they have unfilled positions. Hiring headache Australian organisations say there is a continuing high demand for technical cyber security professionals, but that they struggle to hire and retain them. Around a third (36%) say it takes three to six months to hire for even entry-level roles, and the challenge worsens (48%) for non-entry-level roles. The problem is more acute in Australia than on average globally (39%). Under-funded, and under threat Australian organisations’ hiring challenges are exacerbated by lack of staff funding. Almost half of respondents to ISACA’s survey said they had received insufficient funding to address cyber security issues, and only 24% predicted they would receive any budget increase in the year ahead. Again, this compared unfavourably to the 41% of cyber security professionals globally who expected their organisation’s cyber security budgets to increase. Skill profile changing The qualifications being sought by employers are also evolving … though perhaps not in the way you might expect. “Organisational Fit” is now the most highly sought after attribute (66%), followed by usual factors such as “Prior Cybersecurity Experience” (62%). Also highly-valued are “Adaptability” (57%), “Communication” (60%), “Critical Thinking” (55%) and “Problem Solving” (44%). Worse to Come? 41% of the Australian organisations who responded to ISACA’s survey said their organisation had experienced more attacks than a year ago. While half believe an attack on their organisation is likely or very likely in the year ahead, only 35% feel confident in their team’s incident response capabilities. ISACA’s Oceania Ambassador, Jo Stewart-Rattray, said Australia couldn’t “hire its way out of a skill gap this deep”. “Fewer organisations are training non-security staff into cyber roles, even though most organisations acknowledge they are under-staffed (and) this approach is unsustainable,” she said. Automating to Augment Organisations struggling to recruit cyber security specialists should consider how automation can augment and relieve the load being carried by their existing cyber security specialists. Advanced Managed File Transfer solutions, such as GoAnywhere MFT , can centrally manage and secure file transfers organisation-wide. Recognised for its class-leading features, GoAnywhere frees up your cyber security specialists, working in the background to comprehensively mitigate the risks of storing and moving your data, both within and outside your organisation. Through its centralised control, encryption, and auditing capabilities, GoAnywhere replaces risky traditional approaches and improves productivity. Its versatility, security, ease of use, and budget-friendliness have made it a must-have solution for organisations committed to protecting their information assets. Expert Local Advice On Hand At Generic Systems Australia , we’re Australia’s and New Zealand’s experts on Managed File Transfer solutions. If you’d like a no-cost, no-obligation discussion about how we could help you augment your cyber security team’s efforts, please feel welcome to get in touch . Previous Next

< News The Emotional Toll of Ransomware Attacks 25 Aug 2025 Sophos’s recent report The State of Ransomware 2025 sheds light on the little-discussed human impacts of cyber attacks within compromised organisations. Sophos polled 3,400 IT and cyber security leaders across 17 countries who had been hit by ransomware in the past year. Aside from the financial and reputational costs to the organisations, Sophos found that the organisation’s IT and cyber security teams suffered negative personal consequences from every attack. Taking the Fall The fallout from a cyber attack was often most severe at the top of the IT team. In one in four cases, the team’s leadership was replaced as a consequence. That might seem “fair” to some. However, as most CISOs will tell you, business investment decisions are frequently made at the Line of Business level. CISO projects and investment requests are considered alongside other business priorities and investments – sometimes, deprioritised and rejected. In those instances, is it reasonable to hold the CISO accountable? As Frank Dickson, group VP for security at IDC, remarked to CSOonline.com : “Some presume that a ransomware attack is the fault of the CISO. The CISO is a leader, but not  the  leader. Breaches are the result of a pattern of decisions of many.” Dickson said that some enterprise business units — even some CEOs and COOs — will sidestep CISOs by deliberately not inviting them to key meetings, out of the fear they will slow down certain business processes. With the growing frequency of cyber attacks, and the considerable business disruption they create, that’s shortsighted and risky. Emotional Toll Sophos’ survey found that the human consequences of a cyber attack were felt well beyond the leadership level. 41% of IT/cybersecurity teams reported increased anxiety or stress about future attacks. 34% said the team felt guilty that the attack was not stopped in time. 40% reported increased pressure from senior leaders - though 31% reported increased recognition. 31% of teams experienced staff absences due to stress/mental health issues related to the attack. The survey responses reveal how a ransomware attack can be a brutal blow — not just to an organisation’s finances and reputation, but to the people responsible for the IT systems. For the IT team, it’s often a high-stakes, high-pressure ordeal. HR & C-Level Support An organisation’s Human Resources team and C-suite need to play a critical role in stabilising the IT team in the aftermath of a ransomware crisis. That begins with providing immediate support: Acknowledging the pressure, and recognising within the organisation the IT team's efforts. Providing flexible work arrangements, such as adjusted hours, remote work options, and time off where feasible. Making psychological first aid and counsellors available. Ensuring clear internal communication, to avoid the stresses of miscommunication and rumours. Longer term, the focus should be on building IT team resilience. Recognising and rewarding the IT team's role in recovery. Conducting cyber security training across departments - not just IT – to reinforce a culture of shared responsibility. Implementing retention strategies to mitigate post-ransomware attack attrition. Prevention: Better than Cure At Generic Systems Australia , we help Australian and New Zealand organisations avoid cyber attacks by making file transfer and email systems smarter and more resilient. Please feel welcome to contact me if we can help you. We’re your local experts in data transfer. Previous Next