Small businesses often have valuable data, for example sensitive customer information and financial records. Despite this, many of them have fewer cyber security measures in place when compared to larger businesses. This can make them attractive targets for cyber criminals.
The Australian government has highlighted that more businesses are reporting cyber crimes than before. A new cyber-attack was reported every six minutes in Australia over the 2022-2023 financial year, up 23% versus the previous year. And the majority of reports were from small businesses.
Research from Cyber Wardens suggests many small businesses aren’t tuned in to cyber security risks, with 45% of them seeing cyber security threats as a low to non-existent risk and the majority (61%) not talking about cyber security as a business issue regularly.
As a small business you might not have dedicated cyber security experts and resources such as the latest security technology. Research from Cyber Wardens found that four in ten small businesses have little to no confidence in their ability to respond to a cyber threat.
With fewer resources, it may be difficult to properly train employees in good cyber security practices. This can lead to simple mistakes. Clicking on a suspicious link in a phishing email for example, or sharing passwords, can open the door to cyber- attacks.
A World Economic Forum report found that 95% of all cyber security issues are caused by human error. This highlights the importance of proper cyber security training for your employees. This is where Cyber Wardens can help your business.
Read on to explore what Cyber Wardens is and how it can help your business with free training and resources.
Cyber Wardens is a free cyber security program run by the Council of Small Business Organisations of Australia (COSBOA), with support from Telstra and CommBank. It helps small business owners and their teams learn how to protect themselves from cyber threats.
Cyber Wardens offers cyber security training that’s practical, easy to understand and easy access. The aim of Cyber Wardens training is simple: to equip your business with the skills needed to shut the door on cyber criminals. By participating in the program, you or a team member can become a Cyber Warden.
This cyber security program can help you make better decisions to protect your business. It can also help boost your team’s cyber safety culture. This in turn can help strengthen customer trust and enhance your business’s reputation.
When you sign up for the Cyber Wardens program, you get access to a range of useful cyber security resources. This can help you and your business stay safe online.
You’ll get a toolkit with a Cyber Wardens Action Plan. This can help test your team’s skills. You can also download materials like cyber safety posters and fact sheets.
When you have a trained Cyber Warden in your business, you can also display a badge on your website. This shows customers that you’re committed to protecting their data and can help build consumer confidence. You’re proving that you’ve taken proactive steps to defend your business.
Cyber Wardens training helps your staff build cyber security skills in fundamental areas. These include:
As well as offering online cyber security training, Cyber Wardens also focuses on helping small businesses form good habits.
The Cyber Wardens program offers an extended learning suite:
Further levels are in development for Cyber Wardens who want to keep increasing their cyber resilience.
Research from Cyber Wardens found that nearly four in five small business owners (78%) have everyday habits that may make them more vulnerable to cyber crime. This might include failing to install software updates at the right time.
The same research found one in four (26%) small businesses reuse the same passwords across multiple systems and platforms. And about 16% also use short passwords, making them easier to crack.
According to Cyber Wardens, there are five good habits to help keep your business safe from cyber-attacks:
Shutting down computers means automatic software updates can be installed. This can help protect against a cyber break-in.
Use unique and longer passwords or passphrases. This can help prevent cyber criminals from accessing multiple programs and services if they work out one of the assigned passwords.
Explore more password management tips
Sharing suspected scams with the right people helps ensure the senders can be investigated and blocked.
Learn more about phishing to help minimise business risks
Unique logins for each person can help protect your systems. It means if one staff member’s password is compromised, multiple accounts likely won’t be.
Making updates a priority means important bug and security fixes are implemented as soon as they become available.
Learn more about why automatic updates help keep your business secure
Cyber threats aren’t going away. Small businesses are being targeted more and more and the consequences of a cyber -attack can be severe. But with the right cyber security training and support, you can reduce your risk and help protect your business.
Cyber Wardens is designed to make this easy. In as little as 10 minutes, you can begin your cyber security journey for your small business. And it’s all jargon-free, meaning you don’t need to be an IT expert to understand it.
Nick Roughley, an operations manager at a distillery in Canberra, is already seeing the benefits of the Cyber Wardens program. Since offering the training to his team, he’s noticed more awareness and conversations around cyber security in the workplace.
Nick says he’d urge every small business owner to think about cyber security. “We can’t afford not to make cyber security a priority,” he says. He encourages all employees to do the training. This can help them spot a cyber -attack to help prevent them from happening in the first place.
Without investing in cyber security training proactively in your business, you run the risk of it becoming a blind spot. Ultimately, this puts your business at greater risk than it needs to be. Cyber Wardens aims to train over 50,000 people in Australia over the next three years.
Visit the Cyber Wardens website to sign up and make sure you’re one of them.
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