Cybersecurity: The Growing Threat to Businesses and Individuals

This report examines the escalating threat of cyber attacks by foreign governments, malicious companies, and hackers, emphasizing the vulnerability of businesses and individuals. It highlights that many attacks begin with phishing emails and the importance of individual and organizational cybersecurity measures. The report discusses the average time hackers stay within an organization before detection, the impact of data breaches on consumers and businesses, and the importance of security updates and two-factor authentication. It also covers the potential consequences of large-scale cyberattacks, including the targeting of major political parties and the theft of personal data. The report stresses the need for staff training, proactive cybersecurity practices, and a collective approach to improve overall security posture. The report includes data breaches at various organizations, including banks and government entities, and underscores the necessity of understanding and mitigating cybersecurity risks to protect sensitive information and maintain trust.

2/12/2020 Cyber attacks by foreign governments, malicious companies and enterprising hackers are on the rise. And the biggest problem is you. -…
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RELATED STORY: Our ability to repel a large-scale
cyber attack 'might not exist': Defence figure
RELATED STORY: Major parties hit by foreign
government hackers in attack on Parliament servers
RELATED STORY: Nearly half of Australian companies
hit by customer fraud, cyber crime
Key points:
A hacker stays inside an organisation
on average for eight months before
being found
Most hacks start with a simple
opening of an email
The best protection is at an individual
level, installing security patches when
available, as well as two-factor
authentication
Cyber attacks by foreign governments, malicious
companies and enterprising hackers are on the rise. An
the biggest problem is you.
By business reporter Daniel Ziffer
Posted Wed 20 Feb 2019, 12:39am
PHOTO: Email phishing gives hackers the easiest and most common entry to an organisation's data network. (Reuters: Kacper Pempel)
Forget sequences from blockbuster films of gangs breaking into
secure buildings, avoiding guards to attach a "tap" to a blinking
server. Real hackers walk through the front door by sending you an
email.
"Ninety per cent of cyber attacks worldwide begin with an email. Most
organisations don't really look at their email security that carefully," said
Michael Connory, chief executive of Security In Depth.
"Everybody is vulnerable. Australian organisations have no idea how
vulnerable they are."
After a cyber breach of the Federal Parliament's computer network and a
warning from one of Australia's most senior military figures that the threat
of similar attacks is on the rise, experts are pleading with Australian
businesses to take the threat seriously.
"The easiest way for an attacker to get into an organisation is by phishing,
by email," Mr Connory explained.

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It's simple. Somebody in an organisation opens an email and are directed to click on a link, usually something that
requires an action such as: "You need to update your details".
When the person logs in, they inadvertently give their username and password to a hacker.
The information is then used to get into the broader computer systems of an organisation.
Consumers hit
PHOTO: Security In Depth chief executive Michael Connory says on average companies take 8 months to discover they've been hacked
(ABC News: Daniel Ziffer)
Consumers feel the impact of breaches through the potential for identity theft.
Vast amounts of personally identifying detail is available online, and criminals don't need much to get you in trouble.
"Your Tax File Number, your driver's licence number, date of birth ... from that small amount of information they could
begin to set up companies, obtain credit, start to obtain loans, run up huge debts," Mr Connory noted.
"A vast array of damage."
For businesses, the danger goes beyond losing important data or confidential files.
Almost half of data breaches in Australia are in health and finance, where organisations risk losing the vital trust of
customers and their ongoing business.
Patch, patch, patch

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PHOTO: Melbourne University's Suelette Dreyfus says the best defence starts at home. (Supplied)
Cyber security expert Dr Suelette Dreyfus from the School of Computing and Information Systems at the University of
Melbourne said Australian businesses could easily trim their exposure in two simple ways.
"Patch, patch patch! Upload all of those security updates from the operating system, and set it to auto-update," Dr
Dreyfus said.
"The other is to set up two-factor authentication ... for all of your accounts; your Google, your Facebook, your Twitter,
because now those things are your outward view to the world."
Two-factor authentication is common in online banking products.
Entering your username and password on the website prompts a text message to your smartphone that includes a four or
six digit code. Without submitting the code, you can't get in to your accounts.
"The vast majority of threat that Australian businesses face, in a cybersecurity sense, is from criminal elements," Dr
Dreyfus added.
"But there's also the risk of industrial espionage, stolen IP (intellectual property). This stuff matters".
Few defences

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Are our politicians being
hacked?
Scott Morrison has revealed all of the major political
parties were targeted by a "sophisticated state actor"
in this year's cyber-attack on Parliament.
PHOTO: Information Warfare Division chief Major General Marcus Thompson warns there may not be the resources available to fight a major cyber-
attack. (Supplied: Department of Defence)
Major General Marcus Thompson told AM the threat of cyber attacks on the military is on the rise, but it was the broader
capacity for the Australian Government to respond to a big fight in cyber space that kept him up at night.
"I have a concern, and I know this concern is shared by many of my colleagues and mates throughout the national
security community, that in the event of a significant incident on Australia in cyber space, the resources that would be
required to respond might not exist at the scale that might be required," Major General Thompson said.
Major General Thompson leads the Information Warfare Division, which was set up in mid-2017 with the aim of providing
both defensive and offensive cyber capabilities.
The threat isn't hypothetical. Organisations as varied as global shipping
giant Maersk and the United Kingdom's National Health Service have
suffered losses and disruption from cyber attacks.
In Australia, our biggest banks are currently trying to contact 100,000
customers, whose personal data may have been affected by a major
breach at valuation firm, LandMark White.
The breach, revealed in The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, could
include birthdates, personal contact information and property valuations.
As a result, the Commonwealth Bank, ANZ and NAB have suspended use
of the stock exchange listed firm.
In January, the details of 30,000 Victorian public servants and contractors
were stolen in a data breach, after a Victorian Government staff directory
was downloaded by an unknown party.
Easy access
Mr Connory, who describes himself as an "ethical hacker", says tens of thousands — if not hundreds of thousands — of
people have the skills to break into an organisation (recently his 14-year-old daughter, having watched a YouTube video,
gave it a go).
"It's simple," he said.

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Cyber crime: Why you should
care
All individuals and organisations connected to the
internet are vulnerable to cyber attack – and the threat
is growing.
"It takes us about 22 minutes to get access inside a company."
Security In Depth recently researched 119 organisations, and found that for more than third, usernames and passwords
that would give a hacker access were available on the dark net — an anonymised network only accessible using specific
software.
"Most of the time a hacker will just sit there, watching," Mr Connory said.
"In Australia, on average, a hacker will stay in an organisation for eight
months before they're even found. They've got access to emails, financial
statements, to confidential company IP (intellectual property), they've got
access to customer databases.
"By staying 'in' an organisation for such a long time they can start to see
and read and be privy to a huge range of sensitive information."
You might be the problem, but you're also part of the solution.
Dr Dreyfus said companies need to train staff better in cybersecurity, to
acknowledge that most problems begin through a seemingly innocuous
email, and that a system is only as strong as its weakest link.
"They need to train their employees to understand, 'Ah! This is the risk to
the profitability of the whole company if we don't come together and behave in better cybersecurity ways'," she said.
"Herd immunity' matters. If you can get your entire company up a little more, in their posture, it will be much better off as
a whole."
Topics: business-economics-and-finance, consumer-protection, crime, internet-technology, internet-culture, australia
Contact Daniel Ziffer