PwC has released its Global Economic Crime Survey for 2016. And the situation for Australia is pretty alarming as our country has been identified as a ‘top hotspot for cybercrime’. According to the survey, more than one in 10 Australian organisations report losses of more than $1 million each in the last two years.
To make things even worse, the report says that only 42% of Australian organisations have a fully operational incident response plan, and only 40% organisations think that their first responders are fully trained.
James Walker, Founder and Managing Director of Brisbane-based IT outsourcing company, has been working in the IT industry for more than 20 years and have never seen cybercrime being so organised and powerful. As part of its operations, Computer One provides cybersecurity audits to both Australian and multinational companies, and has become an expert at providing organisations with proactive security solutions and strategies.
And this is the message he would like to share with Australian organisations worried about cybercrime:
- “There are at least 15 major channels for data to leak out of your organisation. If you don’t have a plan to mitigate risk in every one of them then you are simply passing time until you lose your intellectual property.”
- “Security is now a sub-set of IT Management that requires a specialist approach. The tools require specialist training. For example, the hackers’ methods need to be studied in detail and there’s more at stake than ‘business as usual’ processes. In a way, it’s like the difference between a GP and a surgeon.”
- “Cryptolocker showed us that every company can be a victim of cybercrime, no matter how mundane the industry. It doesn’t matter whether or not the hacker thinks your data is important – if YOU think it’s important then you are a good target.”
- “Only by being proactive about protecting their assets does an organisation have a chance to avoid being the victim of a major breach.”
- “Your brand can be valued as the sum total of all the profit you will make in the foreseeable future simply, because of the trust that is placed in your products or services. Imagine the impact of a breach of that trust on your brand – that’s how much it is worth to have your data protected.”
