Cyber Threats in Australia: How Prepared is Your Business?

As new technologies continue to evolve, so do the threats that businesses face online. Cybercriminals are constantly finding new ways to exploit security gaps, putting business operations at risk.

For small businesses, a single cyberattack can have devastating consequences – both financial and reputational. But with the right planning and countermeasures, SMEs can protect themselves against cyberthreats to ensure business continuity and resilience.

What is a cyberattack?

By now, most of us understand what a cyberattack is. In its simplest form, a cyberattack is a deliberate attempt to infiltrate an individual’s or a business’s network or digital systems. The motivation behind most cyberattacks is to steal sensitive information, alter data, or disrupt or destroy operations for personal gain or financial profit.

Common types of cyberattacks

Cyberattacks can take many different forms in order to exploit vulnerabilities to gain access to a system. Some of the most common types of cyberattacks include:

• Phishing: This is a type of social engineering attack, where a criminal will try to obtain sensitive data from an unsuspecting victim. This is usually done through misleading methods like fake messages, emails or phone calls. Phishing scams are extremely common in Australia.
• Ransomware: In a ransomware attack, hackers encrypt a company’s data and demand a ransom in exchange for restoring access. These attacks can seriously disrupt business operations and lead to significant financial losses.
• Malware: Malicious software, shortened to “malware”, includes viruses, spyware and trojans that secretly compromise security. The purpose of malware is usually to infiltrate systems, steal data, or disrupt operations.
• Data breach: A data breach occurs when hackers gain unauthorised access to confidential data, such as customer records and financial information. In some cases, data breaches can result in regulatory penalties as well as reputational damage.

How likely is a cyberattack to happen to my business?

The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) has released some troubling statistics over the past 12 months. From January to June 2024, there were a total of 527 notifications of data breaches received by the OAIC. This is a 9% increase compared to the previous reporting period.

The healthcare sector was the most likely to report a data breach, followed by government agencies and finance institutions. The most common reason for a data breach was malicious or criminal attack (67%) and then human error (30%).

In addition to these findings, the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) reported that more than 36,700 calls were made to the Australian Cyber Security Hotline, up 12%. They also found that a single cyber incident will cost a small business approximately $49,600. This is up 8% from the previous year.

Many small businesses don’t believe they will become a target for cybercriminals simply because they are too small. But the fact is, this is precisely why they become targets.

Why do hackers target small businesses?

Cybercriminals target small businesses because they generally don’t have strong cybersecurity measures in place. Medium and large businesses often have a larger cybersecurity budget compared to small businesses, meaning they can invest in much broader and stronger measures. This makes small businesses a comparatively easy and cost-effective target for hackers.

How to protect your business from cyberattacks in 4 steps

As a small business owner, cybersecurity is probably not at the top of your ever-expanding to-do list. But if your business was hit with a cyberattack, how would you mitigate the damage and recover? Could you take the financial hit?

In this day and age, it’s simply not good enough to go without any cybersecurity measures. Here are a few simple steps you can take to help protect your small business from cyberattacks.

1. Conduct a cyber risk assessment

Think of a cyber risk assessment as the foundation for a solid cybersecurity strategy. A risk assessment can help you identify vulnerabilities, assess potential threats and develop measures to prevent a cyberattack.

1. Identify and classify assets: List all critical assets, including databases, cloud systems, customer records, financial data and employee devices. Prioritise them based on their importance to business operations.
2. Identify potential threats and vulnerabilities: Assess common threats such as phishing, malware, ransomware, insider threats and data breaches. How likely are they to impact your business?
3. Evaluate the impact and likelihood of risks: Determine the financial, operational, and reputational impact of each risk.

Conducting a cyber risk assessment will help guide you as you move onto the next steps.

2. Perform regular security audits and updates

Regular security audits can help to identify weaknesses in business’s cybersecurity defences. A thorough audit should assess network security, software vulnerabilities and employee practices to ensure compliance with best practices. You can conduct an audit yourself, or you could contract an IT specialist to help if you don’t have the experience.

In addition to regular audits, it’s important to make sure all applications and security tools are up to date. Regular updates often include security patches to combat the latest cyber threats.

3. Train employees in cyber awareness

As the OAIC data found, 30% of data breaches were caused by human error. So it stands to reason that protecting your business from cyberattacks should include training and educating your employees.

Regular training sessions should focus on things such as identifying suspicious emails, always verifying links before clicking, using strong passwords, and not downloading unauthorised software. This can help employees accurately identify cyber threats before they become a serious issue.

4. Invest in cybersecurity tools

There are many different cybersecurity tools on the market that can help give businesses comprehensive protection against cyber threats. Some of these include:

• Antivirus and malware protection software: Built to monitor, identify and remove malicious cyber threats.
• Patch management tools: Automatically installs updates and patches to address software vulnerabilities.
• Firewalls: Acts as a barrier against illegal access to your network.
• Multi-factor authentication (MFA): Uses multiple levels of security to protect sensitive data.
• Data encryption tools: Encodes sensitive data, protecting it from unauthorised access.
• Endpoint detection and response (EDR) tools: Monitors device activity and flags suspicious behaviour.

What should you do if your business experiences a cyberattack?

If your business should become the target of a malicious cyberattack, then you need to report the incident as soon as possible.

You can make a report to the following agencies.

Australian Cyber Security Centre

The Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACDC) is led by the Australian Signals Directorate. Its mission is to improve cybersecurity on behalf of the Australian government.

If you become aware that a cybersecurity incident has happened, or is happening, and is likely to impact your business, then you should contact the ACSC. You can also call the Cyber Security Hotline on 1300 292 371.

Office of the Australian Information Commissioner

If a data breach occurs and is likely to result in serious harm to an individual whose personal information is involved, then any organisation that the Privacy Act 1988 covers must notify affected individuals and the OAIC.

The Department of Home Affairs

There are many other types of “online harms” that you may wish to report to the Australian government as a business or as an individual. For a full list of online harms and how to report them, you can visit the Department of Home Affairs website.

Cybersecurity is everyone’s responsibility

As cyberattacks around the world ramp up in frequency and complexity, it’s more important than ever that businesses and individuals are aware of the different kind of threats that exist. Being able to identify a cyber threat is the first step. This can help you eliminate the issue and mitigate the damage.

But what if you fall victim to a cyberattack despite your best efforts? That’s where Cyber Liability insurance comes in.

Cyber Liability insurance is designed to help protect you from claims and support your profitability in the event of a cyber breach or attack. Costs associated with defending a cyber claim are also covered.

Examples of the types of risks Cyber Liability insurance can assist with are unintended loss or release of customer data, ransomware extortion and business interruption due to a cyber event.

Compare Cyber Liability insurance tailored to your business today, or call our friendly team on 1300 920 847. For on the go cover, go BizCover.