Importance Of Cybersecurity In Today’s World

The importance of cybersecurity in todays world gets waved away with a familiar line. We are too small to be worth attacking.

It misunderstands how most incidents happen. Credential stuffing, phishing and automated scanning are not aimed at anyone. They run against whatever answers, and a small organisation with reused passwords and no multi-factor authentication answers as readily as a large one.

Small organisations are also often a route to a larger customer, which makes them worth compromising for reasons that have nothing to do with their own size.

The obligations do not scale down either. Where privacy law applies, it applies regardless of headcount.

Start with multi-factor authentication, patching on a schedule, and backups you have actually tested restoring from rather than assumed were working.

The Australian Cyber Security Centre publishes small business guidance. This is general information rather than legal advice, and obligations vary by state and territory.

See Sentrient’s cyber security training course and workplace compliance system.