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< News MFT as your Middleware! 4 Nov 2025 Modern enterprises are constantly navigating the flow of information between intricate internal systems and external cloud services. Regardless of whether that flow is inside or outside of the corporate firewall, the need for secure and efficient data transfer remains paramount. Traditional solutions like Extract Transfer Load (ETL) systems help process and store data within a central warehouse, while Enterprise Service Buses (ESBs) serve as hubs that manage and monitor data and service flows across various applications. Yet, despite their strengths, these tools fall short when it comes to security—especially when third-party interactions are involved. This gap between integration and security has left organisations searching for a more unified approach. More than MFT Enter GoAnywhere MFT , a solution which redefines what managed file transfer can be. Unlike conventional MFT platforms, GoAnywhere functions as a lightweight ETL, a capable ESB, and a robust MFT tool—all rolled into one. What truly distinguishes GoAnywhere is its unwavering focus on security, making it one of the few platforms that can meet the growing demand for secure and seamless data exchanges both within and beyond enterprise boundaries. GoAnywhere offers the same automation and integration capabilities found in ETL, ESB, and Enterprise Application Integration solutions. It enables organisations to connect internal systems with cloud-based resources and external partners, including banks, credit card providers, financial data services, foreign exchange markets, and retirement or pension systems. When needed, GoAnywhere can also act as middleware, integrating with existing ETL setups while managing system connections, securing communications, and streamlining integration processes. Even for enterprises already equipped with ETL tools, GoAnywhere enhances data transfer security by introducing multiple layers of protection. Its architecture includes a multi-tier setup featuring the GoAnywhere Gateway, which operates as a reverse proxy in the DMZ to shield data from internet threats. Additionally, organisations can deploy a Secure ICAP Gateway—a deep content inspection engine that blocks malicious content from infiltrating through third-party interfaces. Security is further reinforced through integration with Fortra Threat Brain, a comprehensive threat intelligence database that proactively identifies and blocks suspicious IP addresses before they can breach the network. On-Prem, Off-Prem... Anywhere Another standout feature of GoAnywhere is its ability to bridge the divide between on-premises systems and cloud-based applications. Unlike typical SaaS middleware platforms, which often struggle to accommodate legacy systems, segmented networks, and hybrid environments, GoAnywhere centralises and secures file transfers across all these domains. It’s not limited to one environment, making it a truly versatile solution for enterprises with complex infrastructures. For organisations aiming to enhance operational efficiency, GoAnywhere offers a high-performance middleware platform that supports secure and high speed data transfers. It interfaces with a wide array of systems, applications, and cloud services, protects files from malware, enforces zero trust principles regardless of file destination, and ensures data remains outside the DMZ. Recognised globally as a leading MFT solution, GoAnywhere is celebrated for its security, adaptability, and ability to operate wherever and however enterprises need it. It’s increasingly becoming the connective tissue between disparate systems and workflows. Local Help On Hand At Generic Systems Australia , we bring years of experience helping IT teams across Australia and New Zealand optimise their file transfers and safeguard their data using GoAnywhere MFT. From assessing legacy systems to offering zero-cost Proof of Concepts and seamless Migration Services, we ensure businesses can transition to more secure practices without disruption. If you’re interested in exploring how GoAnywhere can benefit your organisation, feel free to reach out for an obligation-free conversation. At Generic Systems Australia, we’re proud to be Australia’s and New Zealand’s experts in Managed File Transfer. Previous Next

< News Free Cyber Health Check from Australian Signals Directorate 16 Oct 2025 Australia’s leading government agency combatting cybercrime, the Australian Signals Directorate, has launched a free tool to help small businesses, not-for-profits and individuals assess their basic cyber security. The tool takes just five minutes to complete, its assessments are anonymous, and it provides good advice on how to protect yourself and your organisation from cyber criminals. At Generic Systems Australia we have decades of experience helping local organisations combat keep cyber thieves at bay through deployment of the world’s best Managed File Transfer solution, GoAnywhere MFT . If you’d like a no-obligation discussion about how we could help you – or a health check on your existing GoAnywhere deployment - please feel welcome to get in touch with me. Previous Next

< News Aussie cyber staff “world’s most stressed”: survey 9 Oct 2024 Aussie cyber security workers are the world’s most stressed, according to a survey by international tech professional association ISACA. For its State of Cybersecurity 2024 report, ISACA surveyed 1,868 cyber security professionals from 102 countries, including Australia. They found that Australian cyber security workers are feeling more stressed in their jobs than their counterparts in any other country. Overly Complex, Under Resourced Respondents attributed the rising stress to Australia’s “increasingly complex threat landscape” and “continual under-resourcing” of their cyber security departments and roles. They reported lower budgets, higher hiring and retention challenges, and a more significant lack of prioritisation of cyber security risks than their global peers. Nearly half of all respondents believed their company’s cyber security budget was inadequate, and only a third expected it to be increased in the year ahead. As a result, most said they didn’t feel ready to combat the growing risk of a cyber-attack on their organisation. Burnout In a further worrying sign for Australian businesses, many cyber security professionals said the stress of their role had become so significant that they were considering moving on from their current organisation. Of those who had already left, 60% cited “stress” as the primary reason. ISACA’s Director of Professional Practices and Innovation, Jon Brandt, urged Australian employers to better mitigate the stress of their cyber defenders. “Employers (should) explore ways to support staff before burnout and attrition occur,” he said. ISACA said the increasing complexity of cyber attacks required additional effort, energy and intelligence from cyber professionals. It characterised the need to stay ahead of new technologies and digital weapons as “all-consuming”, and this explained why cyber pros in Australia were feeling the effects of increased stress in their roles. Most Australian respondents said they expected a cyber attack on their organisation during the next year. However, only 32% had a high degree of confidence in their team’s ability to detect and respond to the attack. Cyber Stress Relief Companies can take some of the load off their beleaguered cyber security staff by adopting automated, proactive and layered cyber defences. The goal is an always-on system which automatically secures, stores and transfers data, repelling cyberthieves before they gain access to company systems. The foundation of such an approach is a technology called “Managed File Transfer” (MFT). Paired with secure content engines and secure digital rights management, MFT is an 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 organisation’s data in three key ways: 1. It prevents files containing malware from being received, by scanning all inbound files and automatically stripping out embedded malware, triggered executables, scripts, or macros. 2. It blocks sensitive data from being shared, by inspecting file contents and stopping protected data from being shared, based on policies you define. 3. It redacts sensitive information from files before they are transferred, detecting and/or removing geotags, document properties, email addresses, and other metadata from documents. Local Help Available As your company’s stressed cyber professionals are signalling, today’s interconnected business environment makes cyber attacks inevitable. However, foiling these attacks no longer requires draining manual cyber surveillance. At Generic Systems Australia , we’ve helped hundreds of business leaders and IT teams across the Asia-Pacific region rest easier, 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 that the capabilities and business case for installing an MFT solution stack up that we’ll even offer you a zero-cost Proof of Concept. If you’d like to help take the load off your cyber security team, and explore how your organisation can automate its data transfer security, please feel welcome to contact me . I’m always happy to have an obligation-free discussion. At Generic Systems Australia , we’re your local experts in Secure Managed File Transfer. Previous Next

< News MFT: Not Just Your First Line of Cyber Defence 16 Sept 2025 Every organisation serious about protecting its data will likely come to view a Managed File Transfer (MFT) solution as one of their first lines of defence. Employing MFT as the standard when exchanging data puts organisations light years ahead of businesses still relying on risky File Transfer Protocol and email to transfer files. MFT platforms not only centralise – and therefore, control - data transfer, they also enable companies to apply comprehensive policies which protect data. Data can be insulated from threats as diverse as inbound malware to careless employees entrusting files to external platforms beyond an organisation’s direct control, such as Google Drive and Dropbox. Critical protection policies, such as those encompassing encryption, monitoring, and auditing capability, can be enforced. High Volume = High Exposure In 2024, businesses were responsible for generating around 30% of the world’s data—an astonishing ~44.1 zettabytes. That included data such as transaction records, CRM logs, ERP systems, IoT sensor data from manufacturing and logistics, internal communications, analytics, and cloud backups, AI training datasets and other enterprise software usage. But as the volume of data used and consumed by businesses grows, so too does the cost and impact of potentially losing that data. The high ransoms now regularly being paid to cyberthieves amply demonstrate just how valuable business data has become. Surely it makes more sense to invest in a relatively inexpensive protective technology like MFT, than to lose equivalent funding — or greater — in the form of ransoms paid to cyber thieves? Lessons from Bankers Banks, traditional repositories of valuables from cash, precious metals and sensitive documents, have learned a lot over the years about protecting assets. And their learnings are relevant to how we should be protecting our valuable data. Banks no longer store our valuables in a single bank vault. Nor for that matter do they store our digital currency on a single server. Rather, banks protect our precious assets — physical and digital — behind layers of security. Physical valuables sit behind physical barriers, multiple locks, access control systems, remote monitoring and security guards. Digital valuables are protected against threats such as malware, ransomware, accidental data loss, third-party exposure, and zero-day attacks by a broad array of technologies. Sitting beneath those technologies, ensuring they’re enforced and providing a sound bedrock of centralised control, surveillance and auditing, is MFT. Adding Layered Defence At Generic Systems Australia we’re adept at installing and maintaining the world’s leading MFT, GoAnywhere . And our Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) bundle significantly enhances GoAnywhere’s data protection capabilities by introducing a proactive, multilayered defence against both external threats and internal data leakage. While GoAnywhere already provides secure encryption, access controls, and audit trails for file transfers, the ATP bundle adds dynamic inspection and sanitisation that targets the content itself—not just the container. At the heart of this integration is the Clearswift Secure ICAP Gateway, which enables deep content inspection and adaptive Data Loss Prevention (DLP). This means every file transferred through GoAnywhere can be scanned for malware, embedded scripts, macros, and other active content that could compromise systems. Unlike traditional antivirus tools, ATP sanitises files in real time—removing only the malicious elements while allowing legitimate content to pass through uninterrupted. Limiting Exposure Beyond malware, the ATP Bundle also addresses sensitive data exposure. It can detect and block files containing personally identifiable information (PII), financial records, or confidential metadata before they’re shared externally. Policies can be set to redact sensitive text, strip geotags and even apply optical character recognition (OCR) to scanned documents to catch hidden data. This empowers organisations to enforce granular control over who can transmit sensitive content and under what conditions—adding a layer of governance that encryption alone cannot provide. In essence, the ATP Bundle transforms GoAnywhere from a secure conduit into an intelligent gatekeeper. It doesn’t just move data safely—it understands what’s inside, evaluates its risk, and ensures that only clean, compliant content reaches its destination. Modular Enhancements Augmenting GoAnywhere’s capabilities are Modules which can further protect an organisation from the inherent risks of legacy protocols such as SFTP/FTPS, email attachments and manual processes. SFTP Server can be upgraded to by GoAnywhere SFTP Server Module, enabling SSH-encrypted transfer with centralised access control, audit logging and integration with Active Directory. FTPS Server can be upgraded to FT Module, offering SSL/TLS encryption, customisable access, and DMZ-safe deployment via GoAnywhere Gateway. HTTPS Web Uploads can be replaced by the Secure Folders Module to create browser-based file access with HTTPS encryption and user authentication. AS2/AS4/PeSIT can be replaced by Certified Protocol Modules, providing Retail and banking-grade secure exchange with Drummond certification. These modules consolidate disparate protocols into a single, scalable platform—reducing complexity, improving visibility, and enforcing consistent security policies across all transfers. Making Email Secure Email is ubiquitous. However, it's also one of the least secure ways to transmit sensitive data. Fortra’s Secure Mail module in GoAnywhere transforms ad-hoc file sharing into a secure, trackable process without disrupting user workflows. Using Secure Mail, Users send files as secure encrypted packages via their browser or an Outlook plugin. Recipients receive a unique link to download via HTTPS — no files are sent directly via email. Senders can set expiration dates, download limits, and password protection, and all activity is logged for auditability and compliance. Secure Mail keeps files on your infrastructure until accessed, eliminating third-party hosting risks and ensuring full control over sensitive data. Strategic Defence By replacing legacy protocols and insecure email practices with GoAnywhere’s modular architecture, organisations gain: • Unified governance over all file transfers; • Reduced attack surface via DMZ-safe deployment; • Improved compliance with GDPR, HIPAA, PCI DSS; and • Streamlined user experience without sacrificing security. Here to Help At Generic Systems Australia we have decades of experience helping Australian and New Zealand organisations protect themselves against malware and other cyber attacks through the power of the world’s leading MFT solution. Our Migration Service makes the transition even easier for organisations who prefer to use their resources building their businesses rather than improving their IT plumbing. 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 us. At Generic Systems Australia, we’re your local experts in Secure Managed File Transfer. Previous Next

< News Protect Your Business from Phishy QR Codes 29 Aug 2025 It’s National Scams Awareness Week . But it’s always a good time to guard against one of the most common forms of phishing. Research by the Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG) shows that scam QR Codes are becoming the attack vector of choice for cyber criminals attempting to infiltrate your organisation. Each day, millions of emails are sent containing QR Codes that link employees and consumers to bogus websites. Code for Criminals QR code attacks occur when a cyber thief creates a bogus QR code which “socially engineers” their intended victim to a phishing website. There they’re tricked into disclosing system credentials, making a false payment or purchase, or downloading malware. QR codes are an increasingly popular phishing tactic due to their crim-friendly features. Free QR Code generators make it inexpensive for cyber criminals to attempt phishing attacks. Free QR Code tend to have few resources dedicated to takedowns of legitimate service abuse and other malicious activity.   QR codes can be combined with URL shorteners to mask the true destination of URLs. Stop the Scams Our SFT Threat Protection Bundle enables your organisation’s email system to automatically detect and prevent phishing links and other malware from entering your organisation. Combining the layered strengths of GoAnywhere MFT and Clearswift, it means your team can receive and share information securely, without impairing their productivity. Seamlessly integrating managed file transfer with advanced threat protection and adaptive data loss prevention, SFT Threat Protection not only prevents malware from entering your organisation, but it also prevents employees from losing or mishandling data. For example, if an employee knowingly –– or unknowingly –– attempts to share any files containing malware, those files are sanitised by having the malicious elements automatically removed. It can also automatically detect and –– if you configure it to do so –– prevent employees from sharing sensitive information. Local Help on Hand Generic Systems Australia has decades of experience helping Australian and New Zealand organisations protect themselves against phishing and other cyber attacks by leveraging the power of the world’s leading MFT solution. Our Migration Service makes the transition even easier for organisations who prefer to use their resources building their businesses rather than improving their IT plumbing. 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 us. At Generic Systems Australia, we’re your local experts in Secure Managed File Transfer. Previous Next

< News Why financial services organisations rely on Managed File Transfer solutions 30 June 2025 Few sectors rely on secure data transfers quite as much as the financial services sector. That’s why so many banks, insurers, financiers and those who support them leverage the security and reliability of Managed File Transfer (MFT) solutions. MFT enables organisations to securely and reliably exchange electronic data between systems while complying with regulatory requirements. With MFT solutions, organisations can confidently facilitate internal and external enterprise data transfers, including sensitive, compliance-protected, and high-volume data. This is particularly important in the financial sector, among the most heavily regulated industries in the world. The sheer quantity of sensitive personal information financial institutions handle makes them a near-irresistible target for cybercriminals. MFT solutions play a critical role in helping financial institutions protect this priceless data in transit and at rest in five ways. 1. Secure Data Transfer Financial institutions handle and transfer highly sensitive financial and customer data. This data needs to be secured, especially when in transit. MFT solutions automate file transfer processes, enforcing policies which mitigate the risk of human error and subsequent cyber security incidents resulting from manual processes. Similarly, MFT’s automation capabilities continuously monitor file transfer activities and generate logs and audit trails, as well as process files through automated workflows. By providing system administrators with real-time alerts to critical events such as failed transfers, security breaches and policy violations, MFT solutions empower security teams to identify and respond to security threats as and when they occur. MFT solutions also support security protocols such as HTTPS, SFTP, and FTPS to encrypt data in transit and prevent unauthorised users from accessing or tampering with it. 2. Regulatory Compliance MFT helps enable financial institutions to meet their stringent industry regulatory requirements. This includes international Standards such as the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, and the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). MFT solutions ensure data integrity through checksums and cryptographic hashing algorithms to verify file integrity and ensure that data received matches data sent. Most regulatory standards require that data remains unaltered during transit - MFT makes sure that happens. There’s a productivity bonus, too. Compliance reporting can be highly time-consuming. However, MFT solutions streamline the task, enabling organisations to demonstrate regulatory compliance quickly and efficiently via detailed reports on file transfer activities. 3. Streamline Business Processes Beyond compliance, MFT solutions help streamline business processes in other useful ways. Through workflow orchestration, MFT solutions ensure file transfers follow a predefined sequence and adhere to business rules. Workflows typically involve multiple steps, including file conversion, data transformation, encryption, validation, and delivery to specific destinations. MFT solutions ensure this process runs smoothly and securely. The complex network infrastructures of modern organisations can make file transfers challenging to track and maintain. Through centralised management and control capabilities, MFT solutions enable security teams to define transfer settings, security policies, and user access controls from a single, browser-based interface. Centralised management and control allow for enhanced visibility and governance of file transfers and eradicate the need for security teams to trawl through disparate data siloes to track and secure data transfers. 4. Integrate with Financial Systems Financial institutions typically have very complex IT infrastructures comprising multiple disparate systems, applications, and platforms. The best MFT solutions offer integration capabilities that connect financial systems such as core banking, enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, treasury management systems, and trading platforms. These integrations ensure smooth, secure, and efficient data exchange between systems and facilitate financial operations and decision-making. 5. Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Business continuity and disaster recovery are crucial for financial institutions, where significant downtime can result in huge financial and reputational impacts. Via features such as data replication, failover mechanisms, and backup options, MFT enables organisations to respond to and mitigate the effects of cyber incidents, preventing data loss and ensuring business continuity. The Leading MFT GoAnywhere MFT , independently assessed to be the world’s leading MFT , helps the finance industry securely exchange data, comply with regulatory requirements, streamline business processes, integrate with financial systems, and ensure business continuity. Many financial institutions around the world use GoAnywhere as a foundational file transfer platform, helping them address and resolve their unique data security and compliance challenges. Australia’s and NZ’s Local MFT Experts Generic Systems Australia has decades of experience helping Australian and New Zealand financial organisations leverage the power of the world’s leading MFT solution. Our Migration Service makes the transition even easier for organisations who prefer to use their resources building their businesses rather than improving their IT plumbing. 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 us. At Generic Systems Australia, we’re your local experts in Secure Managed File Transfer. Previous Next

< News Cyber Security and The Illusion of Invisibility 18 Aug 2025 When it comes to cyber theft, the bigger the firm, the bigger the headline. Optus, Medibank, Qantas, Latitude Financial, and the ANU… all of these high-profile Australian organisations have endured unwelcome time in the spotlight after mishandling their customers’ data. Widespread public familiarity with their brands, as well as their large customer bases, made them more prone to negative media attention when their cyber security lapsed. Smaller businesses – equally big targets The media’s focus on the cyber travails of large organisation can inadvertently create a false sense of security among medium and smaller organisations. That is, because there’s barely any media coverage of cyber theft from less well-known organisations, medium and small companies can be lulled into dangerous complacency about just how vulnerable and targeted they are. The reality is that medium and smaller organisations are prime targets for hackers. Illusion of Invisibility Because they’re not in the headlines, many medium and smaller businesses assume they’re “flying under the radar” as targets for cyber criminals. However, that’s exactly what makes them appealing targets. Hackers reason that medium and smaller firms likely lack the hardened defences of larger organisations – while still harbouring significant and attractive amounts of sensitive customer data. Stats tell Story Statistics from the most recent Annual Cyber Threat Report from the Australian Signal Directorate (ASD) add further perspective to the comparative threat. Last year, more medium-sized businesses reported “Extensive Compromise” cyber attacks than large businesses. The same was true in the next lower category of cyber severity, “Isolated Compromise”. Tellingly, large organisations reported more than three times the rate of success in repelling low-level malicious attacks vs medium-sized organisations. A further alarming insight is that the average financial loss incurred by medium-sized organisations due to cybercrime was almost identical to the average financial loss for large organisations. Smaller Size, Larger Vulnerability The 2024 Sophos Threat Report found that the sophistication of cyberthreats faced by small to medium organisations is often on par with those used to attack large enterprises. In forums on the dark web where cyber criminals trade tips, it’s been said that the spoils from breaching a larger number of medium-sized organisations more than offsets the returns from less frequently successful attacks on large organisations. Sophos found that organisations with fewer than 500 employees were more vulnerable to cyber criminals. Underinvestment in cybersecurity, generally smaller information technology budgets and sometimes, less-experienced IT staff or outsourced providers, all contributed to this heightened vulnerability. Sophisticated Threat Landscape The cybercriminal ecosystem has evolved rapidly to become ruthlessly efficient. Mirroring the legitimate economy, it now features specialised roles and skillsets, intermediaries and brokers, and sophisticated black market networks to facilitate transactions. Ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) groups lease their code to affiliates, and Business Email Compromise (BEC) schemes exploit social engineering techniques to bypass technical protections. Infostealers quietly exfiltrate login data, payment card info, and browser-stored credentials before victims even realise that anything’s awry. Stepping Up Safeguards Businesses need to similarly evolve their safeguards. Spam filters and firewalls are no longer enough. The key to successfully defending against encroaching cyber threats is to use a multi-layered strategy which includes robust data transfer protection, phishing campaign detection, prevention of credential harvesting, employee training, and mitigation against BEC attack by analysing behavioural anomalies and sender authenticity in real time. A Secure Managed File Transfer solution such as the class-leading GoAnywhere MFT addresses the many risks of ad hoc techniques through a holistic approach to security, including: Automatic authentication, encryption and decryption User access controls Auditing and Reporting Continuous updates on the evolving threat landscape, and Industry standards compliance. A further defensive layer - our Advanced Threat Protection Bundle - can mask, remove, or permit Personally Identifiable Information to be moved within your organisation and beyond, via a Secure ICAP Gateway. Invisibility Isn’t Security Just because smaller firms aren’t in the headlines, don’t assume they’re not falling prey to cybercrime. The seductive illusion of “flying under the radar” is exactly what makes smaller organisations appealing targets. And, because they often lack the hardened defences of larger organisation - while still handling sensitive data - they’re more vulnerable to the threats. Here to Help At Generic Systems Australia , we’re Australia and New Zealand’s local experts in helping businesses add the protective layers of Managed File Transfer and Adanced Threat Protection to their cyber defences. If you’d like to discuss how we can help your organisation, please feel welcome to contact me . I’m always happy to have an obligation-free chat and explain how easily we can step up your cyber security. At Generic Systems Australia, we’re your local experts in Managed File Transfer. Previous Next

< News Five Indications Your Organisation Could Benefit from an MFT 20 May 2025 Data is the lifeblood of a modern business. Your ability to safely store and move data is fundamental to your daily operations. Your efficiency in moving and using data determines the overall speed at which your business operates. So it’s worth taking a few moments to consider how to potentially improve the way your team currently stores, protects and moves your valuable organisational data. Are they still relying on outdated file transfer protocols like FTP? Are they trusting your data to a hodge-podge of risky ad-hoc cloud dropbox-style services? Are they relying on years-old hand-coded file transfer scripts? There’s a better – safer, more robust, faster, more efficient, fully automated – way: Managed File Transfer (MFT). Here are five key indicators that your business may be ready to benefit from an MFT solution. Using Outdated Ways to Send Data? A surprising number of organisations still rely on outdated protocols and clunky scripts to move precious data around. However, these legacy methods increase the risk of human error, take time away from more critical tasks, and are difficult to maintain. An MFT is easy to use, easy to audit, requires little maintenance, and removes manual tasks from your stretched IT team’s To Do list. Increasingly Targeted by Cybercriminals? Your IT team can tell you how many cybercrime incursions they’re seeing daily. The number may shock you! With hackers escalating their efforts to extort your business and customers, it’s more essential than ever to secure your data and maintain a ‘circle of trust’ with your supply chain partners. An MFT solution, such as GoAnywhere MFT, employs the latest encryption algorithms to reduce the risk of data breaches during transit. Features like Access Controls, and Multi-factor Authentication, safeguard sensitive information from unauthorised access. New Government Regulations? In response to the impacts of escalating cybercrime on businesses and citizens, governments are imposing ever greater requirements on businesses to ensure they protect consumers’ personal data. From health data (hospital records, test results), to banking data (debit and credit card numbers, bank account details), to identity data (home address, government id), businesses that fail to take responsible measures to protect sensitive data face growing sanctions. Worse, a breach may not only cost your organisation time and money to remediate, it may also ruin your reputation. An MFT solution helps ensure your file transfers comply with regulatory requirements. Features such as auditing, reporting, role-based access, secure protocols, centralised security controls, encryption, and key management protect employee and consumer data from security mishaps. Cloud Dependencies? Many organisations have moved business processes to the cloud, and regularly exchange files with trading partners there. But transfers to and from the cloud – especially those over public telecommunications networks – require extra protection. From streamlining and automating cloud file transfers to platforms like Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure, to integrating with popular web and cloud services like SharePoint and Google Drive, using an MFT makes working with partners in the cloud smooth, reliable and safe. Evolving Network Conditions? Research shows that a single hour of system downtime can easily cost a medium-sized business a six-figure sum. As organisations and trading partners become increasingly integrated, it’s critical that file transfers are performed without delay or disruption. Whereas a document containing a batch of important transactions may once have been delivered over several hours, today’s fast pace of business requires it to take mere seconds. An enterprise-calibre file transfer solution should have a high availability plan in place. The right solution will provide active-passive and active-active (i.e. clustering) methods for organisations who need to keep their processes running no matter the situation at hand. Clustering provides the best high availability by running multiple servers simultaneously. Therefore, if one goes down, file transfers and workflows will continue to run on other servers so communication with your trading partners won’t be interrupted. The Leading MFT If any of these indicators ring true for you, it may be time to consider upgrading to an MFT solution. The acknowledged leading MFT, GoAnywhere, is an all-in-one solution, automating and encrypting file transfers from a centralised dashboard. GoAnywhere saves businesses time, money, and reputation. Local Expert Help At Generic Systems Australia we have decades of experience installing and customising MFT solutions to suit the needs of Australian and New Zealand businesses. If you’d like to explore how MFT can boost your organisation’s security and efficiency, please feel welcome to get in touch . I’m always ready to have a broad-ranging, no-obligation discussion. If you’d like, I can even organise a quick proof-of-concept to demonstrate how MFT can be easily tailored to your organisation’s specific needs. At Generic Systems Australia, we’re your local experts in Managed File Transfer. Previous Next

< News Compulsory Disclosure of Ransomware Payments Looms 6 Aug 2024 Australian organisations will soon be forced to disclose their ransomware payments to cyberthieves. The measure is included in a landmark new Cyber Security Act to be brought before parliament’s next sitting. It comes in response to research which shows Australian businesses have been paying untold amounts of ransom to hackers in what is now a mounting wave of ransomware hacks. Ransom payments flourishing The government is reportedly concerned that the practice of quietly paying off cybercriminals has flourished in secrecy. While the government originally planned to place an outright ban on ransom payments, it’s now focused on mapping the scale of the problem. "People are paying criminals money and it is happening in the darkness (and) we need to bring this out into the light," said former minister for cybersecurity Clare O'Neil. "Government cannot win this war alone. We need a whole-of-nation effort here." Every six minutes In its 2022/23 Annual Cyber Threat Report, the Australian Cyber Security Centre confirmed it was notified of a new cyber incident every six minutes on average. Ransomware attacks have increased roughly five-fold since 2020. As worrying as those numbers might seem, they are still only a glimpse of the real problem. "It is believed that in the Five Eyes countries alone - Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States - literally billions of dollars in ransoms is being paid, and criminal gangs are reinvesting that money … to attack us again," O'Neil said. Business groups concerned Cyber security experts say the proposed changes strike the right balance. However, business groups say they are concerned the new disclosure rules could sink some small operators. To help tempt reluctant businesses into transparency, the government is proposing that disclosures will not be subjected to "the glare of regulators". A "Limited Use Provision" will prevent the Australian Signals Directorate and the Australian Cyber Security Centre from sharing the information more widely, except in narrow circumstances. Said O’Neil: "This is a no-fault scheme. We're not blaming businesses … they're victims of a crime." Under the existing proposal, regulators such as the Privacy Commissioner would still be allowed to investigate and prosecute companies that "leave the front door unlocked", but only using their existing powers. "It doesn't absolve business of any of their legal responsibilities or liabilities," O'Neil said. "We expect Australian businesses to take care of their customers … but sometimes things do go wrong." Not just the private sector The problem of ransomware attacks is not limited to the private sector. The Australian Signals Directorate said almost one-third of cybersecurity incidents reported in the 2022-2023 financial year came from the public service. Consecutive audits of the government sector have found it has a "low-maturity level" when it comes to cybersecurity, despite holding the largest store of sensitive data about Australian citizens. As it stands, about 1,000 Australian entities providing "critical infrastructure" such as energy, healthcare and banking services are obliged to report ransom payments. Attacks escalating The new mandatory reporting measures are recognition that there is no end in sight to ransomware attacks. Johanna Weaver, director of the Tech Policy Design Centre at ANU, said "No matter how good our cybersecurity protections are … (attacks) will continue to happen." She applauded the push to establish an ongoing "Cyber Incident Review Board", similar to what exists in the aviation industry, to learn from other major breaches, such as the attack on MediSecure. Avoiding Ransom Payments To be truly secure, an organisation’s data must be protected not only when it’s stored, but also while it’s enroute to and from storage. 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. Local Expertise 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 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. Attribution: sections of this article were substantially sourced from an item originally published by ABC News Australia. 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