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?

We would like to thank the ACCC for providing us with this valuable interview with ACCC Deputy Chair, Delia Rickard, discussing tips on how to have a conversation about scams with our networks. While her comments are primarily geared towards consumers and individuals, it’s important to note that businesses and their employees can be vulnerable too.

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.

We would like to thank the National Cyber Security Alliance for providing the following valuable information to help protect from phishing threats. 

Compromise can happen to anyone. It’s no longer a case of ‘If a cyberattack hits my business’ but ‘A cyberattack will hit my business’. We have come a long way from the thinking that only certain types of businesses (or business functions) could be the recipient of a cyberattack. Most security professionals now assume that a breach is inevitable and prepare accordingly.

Here's a roundup of this weeks articles on the MailGuard Blog. It's been a busy week here, especially for our CEO Craig McDonald, who managed to fit a mentoring workshop and a leadership interview with Prof. Gary Martin into his schedule...

Businesses spend millions of dollars every year on network and cyber security, yet they continue to lose millions. You have to ask why?

Good internal communications are essential to the smooth operation of every organisation. Often the responsibility of department heads, particularly those in human resources and marketing, the effective implementation of communication strategies falls to every function of an organisation.

With our increasing reliance on new technologies and the ever-growing threat of cybercrime, the shortage of skilled cybersecurity professionals is a major concern.

With the constant evolution of cyber threats, it is all too easy for businesses to get lost in the sea of terms used to describe different types of attacks.

The IT department is a mainstay in every modern organisation, a crucial element in today’s rapidly changing business environment.

When any business or organisation falls victim to a cyber attack, there are enormous financial repercussions, as well as legal issues and a suitable dent in your public reputation as an organisation.