The Northern Rivers Times
December 7, 2023
20 NEWS To be or not to be… by Nigel Dawe
OMBUDSMAN APPLAUDS CYBER SUPPORT FOR SMALL BUSINESS
Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman
O
f all the abilities the human being lays claim to – if not manifests, mimes, albeit refines in every way – it is predictability that poses the greatest baffling riddle to our sense of now, and how we actually appear to ourselves in the giant opaque mirror of futurity. What we will go on to become as individuals, and as a world at large, always remains the ultimate of anyone’s perennial guess. The word itself stems from a combination of two old Latin terms ‘prae’, and ‘dicere’ which respectively mean ‘before’, and ‘to say or pronounce solemnly’. The origin of the word ‘dictionary’ is also a direct heir to the essence of this ultimate of rolling explanational snowballs. But where predictability takes its own ever shapeshifting coat off and puts it straight back on insideout, is when we apply this approach to those we ‘know well’ – our very own selves included; to the point we can restrict the realisation, if not potential for any future growth. Subsequently vice-gripping people and places into the narrow projections of limited, and fully limiting expectation. As Nick Davies expressed, “Once, the world was full of mysteries, some of them frightening, some of them wonderful, some of them merely fascinating. Now, it can be a banal and predictable place, the tracks of daily life so well-beaten and defined, our culture awash with the imbecile obvious, our existence suffocating in safety. But mysteries remain.” Mysteries that have kept pace – a step or two removed, but intact – alongside the frantic modern-day developments of our idiosyncratic species.
While Oscar Wilde once cursively added, “Only the shallow know themselves,” to the platinum ledger of psychological introspection; he also got within sound reach of what being unrestricted by firmly set considerations of self was all about. Literally and metaphorically, Wilde dissected in one fell swoop the ‘given’ that nothing of infinite depth can ever be fathomed, let alone remotely known without reducing it to something that it is not. As impressive and insightful as the sentiments of Dublin’s favourite son of smirk were, those expressed thousands of years prior by China’s Sun Tzu in his Art of War, somehow render all comers ever wide of the comprehensional mark. Who could better his observation, “Engage people with what they expect; it is what they are able to discern and confirms their projections. It settles them into predictable patterns of response, occupying their minds while you wait for the extraordinary moment — that which they cannot anticipate.” Anticipation being the crucial ingredient that can both either lift or restrict our abilities to realise the inherent potential of any given moment. As if supremely conscious of this, Sun Tzu also noted, “Do not repeat the tactics which have gained you one victory, but let your methods be regulated by the infinite variety of circumstances… There are not more than five musical notes, yet the combinations of these five give rise to more melodies than can ever be heard. There are not more than five primary colours, yet in combination they produce more hues than can ever been seen.”
New support announced today by the Australian Government to help small businesses combat cyber attacks is extremely welcome, says the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman, Bruce Billson. “One of the biggest fears a small business has is that they will be targeted and wiped out by a cyber attack and we are pleased our strong advocacy for greater sector-wide support has been heard,” Mr Billson said. “The latest chilling report from the Australian Cyber Security Centre is that a cyber attack happens every six minutes and when a small business is hit, on average they suffer a financial loss of $46,000. “Some never recover from the assault on their operations and their reputation and today’s announcement offers practical help to minimise the chance of being a victim and better prepare small businesses to bounce back. “These announcements will provide the type of
concierge-style support we have advocated for to assist small business to be as prepared as they can be by providing a free check on their readiness and then advice on actual practical steps that can be taken to further strengthen their business. “This will include one-to-one support in the event of an attack to help a small business rebound and recover.” Mr Billson said small business would greatly appreciate the two programs announced by Small Business Minister Julie Collins and Cyber Security Minister Clare O’Neil. Under the announcements, $7.2 million will create a voluntary cyber health check program to allow businesses to undertake a free, tailored self-assessment of their cyber security maturity and determine the strength of their cyber security measures with educational tools and materials they may need to upskill. Those with a high-risk exposure will be able to access a more sophisticated, third-party assessment to provide additional security across national supply chains. A further $11 million
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will be spent on the Small Business Cyber Resilience Service to provide one-on-one assistance to help small businesses navigate their cyber challenges, including walking them through the steps to recover from a cyber attack. “Small businesses can’t hope to have the same sophisticated resources and teams of cyber experts as larger companies who still fall victim to ever more sophisticated attacks,” Mr Billson said. “Small and family businesses are sadly a preferred target for some of the scammers and cyber-criminals and these new programs will give small business greater confidence they are not alone. “The most prominent type of attack is a cyber-criminal will tap into a small businesses email system, intercept an invoice that’s going out from the business and put in some different bank account details. “The unsuspecting customer is expecting the bill and probably knows the amount they have to pay so when it arrives they just settle that account. “However, the money
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goes to some joker on the other side of the world, is quickly converted into crypto currency and is gone. “Other attacks involve phishing scams, where a small business receives an email that looks okay, but it allows entry into their digital infrastructure and the criminals demand a payment for to access your own information.” Mr Billson said there are simple steps a small business can take right now including having multi-factor authentication, sophisticated passwords or pass phrases, making sure not everybody’s got full access to all parts of your technology, having secure backups of critical data and checking with the Cyber Security Centre at www.cyber. gov.au Mr Billson said that the voluntary cyber health check program, as well as third-party assessments and assistance, should be built into a new rightsized privacy compliance framework for small business, given the government’s decision to remove the small business exemption from the Privacy Act. “Incorporating cybersecurity guidance and Consumer Data Right rules into actionable steps for small businesses to meet their privacy obligations will help protect small businesses, reduce compliance burdens and address priority privacy concerns for individuals,” Mr Billson said.
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