Not sure where your security threats are? It’s time to find out

Identifying your business’s cyber threats has never been more important, with cyber crime affecting more than half of Australian businesses

· Operating in a Zero Trust environment is the most effective way of identifying threats and protecting your business from financial, reputational and operational damage caused by cybercrime

· Byte’s free security audit can help you pinpoint any gaps in your security systems and get you started on your cyber security journey

Protecting your business from cybercriminals has never been more important. In 2020/21 financial year cyber attacks cost Australians over $33 billion, and affected more than half of all Australian businesses.

Where monthly patch cycles used to be efficient to protect your system, they are now no longer effective. Cyber criminals are becoming increasingly targeted and sophisticated, regularly scanning and exploiting vulnerabilities in networks. Today, identifying and responding to threats as soon as they arise is critical in safeguarding your business from potential financial, reputational and operational damage.
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The real cost of cyber attacks

The impact and disruption caused by cybercrime can be devastating for businesses. And attacks like business email compromise (BEC) are on the rise, with many businesses having no idea they’re affected – until it’s too late.

For example, when an undetected phishing attack allowed cyber criminals to install malware on a small conveyancer business’s system in Victoria, none of the staff suspected a thing. But in the background hackers had been monitoring emails,

studying the owner’s writing style and intercepting communications between her and her clients.

It was months later, when a client enquired about a $50,000 transfer to complete the purchase of a property that the owner realised something was not right. By the time the IT team started investigating, another client had transferred $280,000 to the hackers.

While the owner’s insurance covered the financial costs, the business came extremely close to irreparable financial and reputational damage.

Having a proactive threat detection and management system in place can protect your organisation from attacks like phishing and BEC – safeguarding your finances and reputation.
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Implementing a Zero Trust approach

Today, businesses are hybrid workplaces operating in an increasingly complex environment. To have complete confidence in your business’s cyber security, you need a Zero Trust approach – one that protects people, devices, data and apps no matter where they are.

As the name suggests, Zero Trust treats every request as though it comes from an open network, never trusting and always verifying – and assuming breach.

It relies on data points like location and user identity to always authenticate and authorise access. It balances data security and productivity by limiting users to just-in-time and just-enough-access, implementing adaptive polices and data protection. And it minimises impact, by verifying end-to-end encryption while using analytics to get visibility, drive threat detection, and improve protection.

Covering identities, endpoints, apps, data, infrastructure and network, a Zero Trust approach brings invaluable benefits to your business – from allowing you to close security gaps and minimising risk, to operating with confidence while enabling your team to work securely from anywhere, any time on any device.

And when it is supported by a security analytics platform like Microsoft Sentinel, a Zero Trust model allows you to stop attacks on your business, fast.

Sentinel offers a bird’s-eye view across your entire business and leverages automation, AI and its global library of logs to highlight any threats and respond immediately.

It simplifies security and speeds up response through artificial intelligence and machine learning that reduce noise and find real threats quickly. Easy integration with Microsoft logs and alerts streamlines data collection, and built-in behavioral analytics allow you to stay ahead of evolving threats.

The first step to better threat detection

Identifying security gaps in your business is the best place to start on a Zero Trust journey.

Start today with our free security audit that identifies where your gaps are and how you can better protect your business. Book your free audit now.

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