MailGuard Blog

It’s one of the most contentious topics facing businesses and cybersecurity professionals at the moment: Should ransomware payments be illegal?

The holidays are fast approaching, and with retailers and consumers getting ready for the biggest sales of the year on Black Friday (the 26th of November), cybercriminals, who have been perfecting their social engineering techniques, are also gearing up to wreak havoc.  

The verdict is in, most industry experts and business leaders agree that Government contractors should be legally accountable for not meeting cybersecurity standards. A somewhat harsh stance perhaps, or simply being cruel to be kind?

The facts and figures are quite clear. We only need to look at the latest news headlines to witness the upwards trend of cyber threats that are facing individuals and organisations worldwide. From local councils to major corporations and government departments, no one is immune. We see evidence of this every day – from the recent cyber-attack in Melbourne, Australia, at the City of Stonnington Council, to Accenture’s $50 million dollar ransomware threat – cybersecurity is the number one threat facing businesses today. President Biden, in his address to the CEO’s of some of the largest corporations in the world, such as Google, Apple and JP Morgan Chase, urged leaders to up their commitment to cybersecurity, “The reality is that most of our critical infrastructure is owned and operated by the private sector, and the federal government can’t meet this challenge alone…You have the power, capacity and responsibility, I believe, to raise the bar on cybersecurity. Ultimately we’ve got a lot of work to do”. It’s becoming more apparent that a cyber resilient culture within businesses is imperative.

Cyber-attacks are a growing challenge for Australian companies and are now Australia’s number-one economic crime. MailGuard collaborates with PwC and Microsoft to bring together CEOs and cybersecurity experts in forums focussed on the rise of cybercrime and the challenge it presents for business.

‘Alone we will fail,’ was the message from Alastair MacGibbon, Head of the Australian Cyber Security Centre and keynote speaker at MailGuard’s2018 Cybersecurity Awareness Luncheon.

On Tuesday 6 March, MailGuard collaborated with PWC and Microsoft to bring together CEOs and cybersecurity experts in a forum focussed on the rise of cybercrime and the challenges it presents for business.

‘The Anxious Optimist in the Corner Office’; that’s the title of PWC’s 21st CEO Survey, which reveals some telling thought trends amongst the world’s business leaders.

Overall, PWC’s report is optimistic about growth but also shows the growing concern that businesspeople have regarding the disruptive economic trends that are being driven by cybersecurity.

If you’re looking for some uplifting reading, I would not recommend The Global Risks Report 2018. Published by The World Economic Forum (WEF), this report is a comprehensive examination of all the things that threaten to derail society. Climate change, tidal waves, water scarcity, terrorism; it’s the ultimate ‘worst-case scenario.’ It makes for sobering reading, but of course, the objective of the WEF Global Risks Report is to help economists and businesspeople mitigate risk.

The Internet of Things, brings many amazing opportunities, but also a higher risk that personal and commercial information will be misused, stolen or critical networks disrupted.