MailGuard Partners Blog

It’s been called the “largest cyber-attack on a media company in Australia's history," something that has never been seen before in the country. 

Business email compromise (BEC) scams have been around for a while, but their continued success at bringing down organisations (both large & small) shows we’re dealing with an adversary that is constantly looking for ways to exploit our systems, our psychology & our trust.  

It’s integral that businesses proactively take steps to enhance identity-related security measures like MFA because since the COVID-19 pandemic, “identity has become the new security perimeter” according to many experts, including Microsoft. 

Commenting on paradigm shifts in cybersecurity in 2020, Ann Johnson, Corporate Vice President, SCI Business Development at Microsoft wrote: 

A PwC survey released at the end of 2020 highlighted fears of growing cyber-attacks targeting local critical infrastructure. 

Cybersecurity was a significant catalyst in facilitating productive remote work and ensuring business continuity in 2020. 

Against the backdrop of a global pandemic, and with more businesses operating remotely, the global scourge of cybercrime became even more calamitous in 2020.

In the final weeks of 2020, news of the SolarWinds hack broke – a cyber-attack that has been dubbed as “the Pearl Harbor of American IT”.    

Cybersecurity is one of the hardest variables to control, with the rapid acceleration of technology and the constant emergence of new attack vectors.

While challenging, 2020 drove a long-overdue review of our approach to cybersecurity for many, especially with the explosion of COVID-19 themed cybercrime targeting remote workforces.