Cyber Security
How safe is your information?
Fraud, Scams, Hoaxes…they’re getting more prevalent and more complex. How do you stay on top, how do you protect yourself?
I was recently notified that I have been the victim of theft – someone hacked into a database and stole my details – along with thousands of other customer details. That information is now freely available to anyone who wants to use it – for whatever they want to use it for.
I’m annoyed, I’ve lost faith in the company that had those details and quite frankly I’m a bit scared – they know more about me know than anyone has a right to know. The company said sorry – but too late for that, the damage has already been done. My house was broken into many years ago which without wanting to sounds extreme or hysterical, the feeling I have now is the same – just downright violated.
This whole experience got me thinking about Cyber security – what would happen if someone hacked into your work database and stole information? Do you have a cyber security plan? Something that says what you do know and what you should do if it actually happens? How do you protect your customers and your staff?
Once it’s happened you might as well try to catch water in a sieve. There’ll be loss of confidence in your business, bad publicity, and staff morale drops, not to mention any fines you may get from breaching section 5 of the Privacy Act.
We will never have perfectly secure systems – bless those little hackers out there having fun cracking systems and stealing peoples confidence. But there are things you can do – get your policies, processes and procedures in place before anything happens. Ask for help from a reputable cyber security specialist, invest the money in your systems before you have to spend the money making amends.
There’s also cyber insurance to help cover things like claims, direct costs and legal defences. With more and more businesses going on line, our lives are more and more vulnerable to attack – are you prepared to take that risk?
For a cyber risk assessment of your business, get in touch with us.
Links:
Debbie Welsh - Manager for ManageRISK
0800 RISK NZ (0800 747 569)
debbie@managecompany.co.nz
