[vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern”][vc_column][vc_column_text]The Federal Court of Australia is holding companies, that identify as Australian Financial Services (AFS) with AFS licences, to account for the inadequate cybersecurity response and action to protect consumers and clients against cyberattacks, especially the act of stealing private data that can lead further to acts of fraud and theft.
The Federal Court ruling on cybersecurity for holders of an AFS licence means that there are stipulated obligations in relation to protecting consumer and client data that require the company to adequately cover and engage on cybersecurity issues. And, if a licensee fails in their obligation the licence can be revoked.
This is a driver for all corporations operating in Australia beyond the financial services industry to manage cyber risk effectively and efficiently. RI Advice Group were the fall guy for an industry that has been blatantly ignoring the threat of cybersecurity attacks and all the court is asking now is for simple measures in relation to IT practices to be enacted as part of an overall risk management strategy. They are putting the ball firmly in the court of individual company responsibility.
The RI group were negligent in that some of their authorised representatives failed to update antivirus software, perform regular system back ups, email filtering and poor password practices. The blatant vulnerability of RI Advice Group Pty Ltd led to multiple cyber incidents affecting multiple clients over a 6 year period. Faster Networks wrote about RI Advice Group and the evidence that played a part on the Court’s final decision must have been that “hackers camped in the data depths for at least 155 hours, gaining access to sensitive data including client information”.
We discussed here that data protection is an insurance policy and that is in the best interests of corporate leadership to understand the cybervulnerabilities are in fact, economic vulnerabilities. There are millions of examples of customers jumping ship when they realise they are not protected by cyber guards at the company they put their trust in.
If corporations cannot protect their customers, they lose their trust and ultimately, the customer itself. The conclusion is lost profit. Cyber-reform is coming from corporate leadership that understand that cybersecurity is as important an issue as addressing climate change.
The Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) has issued an advisory report for companies to “urgently adopt an enhanced cyber security posture”. They believe there is no specific threat right now, however, following Russian’s attack on Ukraine, global cyber threats are increasing, further highlighting the need for companies to take action on cybersecurity right now.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern”][vc_column][vc_separator type=”normal”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern”][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Faster Networks help businesses protect their digital assets. We are a cyber security partner that brings the best software solutions that anticipate and fix digital vulnerabilities. Our areas of expertise includes Vulnerability Management, Security Orchestration Automation and Response (SOAR), Application Security, Infrastructure Security, Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) Protection and Application Pentesting.
Contact us on +61 3 9016 0085 or send us an email to learn more about our cyber security services.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
