Australians Lost $500 Million To Scams In 2018.

How Can You Protect Your Business?

Scams in 2018 at a new high. Now, here is how we’ve done in the last few years:

  • 2016 – $299,000,00+
  • 2017 – $340,000,000+
  • 2018 – $489,000,000+
  • 2019 – You can guess how we’re going to go…

So, now that you know how Australia has been going over the last 3 years, do you want to know how to defend yourself? Also, it should be noted that the majority of scams come from technology. Now, this can include emails, text messages, phone calls, hacking attempts, malware downloads from malicious websites & a whole tonne of other things! Alas, there is no ‘silver bullet’ to stop the attacks. But, on the plus side, there are A LOT of things you might not be doing that you probably should be:

  1. Get a solid anti-virus solution.
  2. Install a hardware firewall which can monitor ALL network traffic.
  3. Filter all email traffic for malicious activity.
  4. Harden your network.
  5. Get Cyber Insurance.
  6. Get an I.T. Consultant! This is the most important step & it is not to drum up work, we don’t care if you get us to do it or you get 5 other I.T. firms. It is essential you get a professional to handle your IT. Just as you would hire a lawyer to defend you in court or a Doctor to operate on your body – You need an I.T. technician to work on your computers & network.
Internet Scams 2018 Australia

Real Life Example of a Bad Scam!

Ok, let me give you a ‘real life’ example of a business we heard of that didn’t take their I.T. seriously. Now, this is a construction company who ordered $150,000 worth of supplies from their supplier. As usual, on payment they entered their MYOB software to pull the suppliers account details out. Then, they went ahead & paid the supplier. Later, that month they received an email from the supplier “Still waiting for that payment”. They informed the supplier that they had already paid, sending remittance. The supplier informed them, they had paid the wrong account… How can this be? The construction company had been hacked via a phishing email potentially months prior. As such, the hacker was most likely waiting for pay day, changed the account details in MYOB & got their $150,000.

Now, to some, $150,000 isn’t too much & you might think your cyber insurance will pay for it. Sadly, this is potentially wrong on THREE counts.

  1. Cyber insurance will pay, just like any insurance company, based on your answers in the initial questionnaire. This construction company was most likely hacked via means of ‘insecurity’. Meaning, they had a vulnerability that SHOULD have been covered.
  2. The payment for this construction company doesn’t stop at the $150,000 already lost. As, they were the ones hacked, they must still pay the supplier who hadn’t been paid for their supplies. As such the construction company is now $300,000 down.
  3. Do you think the construction company or most businesses for that matter have Cyber Insurance – Nope. Should they? – Yes. Would it have made a difference in this matter – Probably not. Why? – Because they didn’t implement correct security to adhere to a Cyber Insurance company’s security standards.

How Can We Help?

Now, you know how you can help yourself. So, how can we help you? As an I.T. business who know all too well the lack of security out there. Again, we highly advise you to please help yourselves by getting an I.T. company to assess your infrastructure security. Although, if you would like to get in contact with us, click here.

Sources List:

Recent Posts

Copyright Absolute IT. All Rights Reserved.