Forsythes Technology's Michael Wilson explains how companies can better tackle cybersecurity threats, following several local businesses and a school being targeted.
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What or who influenced your career?
I was raised in the Hunter on a dairy farm in Hinton, in the house I live in with my young family today. My dad influenced my career a lot by involving me in his businesses from a young age and teaching me a lot about customer service, which is something I'm increasingly passionate about.
Why did you do a business degree at UoN?
Working in my dad's businesses I'd always been interested in what makes businesses tick. At school, my business studies teacher encouraged me to pursue business leadership.
What roles followed?
I moved to Sydney for an account management role with US-based software and services company Novell, managing a client base in Australia and abroad. Eventually I wanted to move back home and accepted a Newcastle-based role with Pacnet (Pacific Internet, later acquired by Telstra) as business development and channel partner manager.
When did you start at Forsythes Technology?
Over 10 years ago I met our CEO Jeff Hughes, then a role became available for a business development and account manager. I am now sales and marketing director. I lead a group of really talented people who are particularly focused on helping clients with cybersecurity.
Cybersecurity is a rising challenge for Australian organisations. Newcastle Grammar recently had a ransomware cyber attack. Are criminals becoming more sophisticated or are businesses making inadvertent mistakes?
Both. I'm not across the details of the Newcastle Grammar School attack, but unfortunately even when mitigation strategies are in place a breach can occur. One analogy I like to use is that in some places is it safe to leave your house unlocked because the risk of someone breaking in is so low, but if you lived in a high crime location you would take many measures to secure your house. A few years ago the risk of cybercrime was so much lower that many "doors" were left unlocked or only minimal security was in place as it was unlikely to be breached. Unfortunately, the landscape has changed rapidly. We now have to take more and more security measures as the frequency and the sophistication of the attacks is increasing dramatically.
A few years ago the risk of cybercrime was so much lower that minimal security was in place. Unfortunately, the landscape has changed rapidly.
ACCC figures show a 44% rise in phishing in the past year. Why?
A combination of factors.
- Phishing is a common first step in a further attack such as ransomware
- With some quick social engineering through publicly available data, from sources such as social media, it is often easy to trick people into giving up their credentials
- An increasing number of victims paying ransoms has resulted in cyber criminals evolving as well organised, well funded, crime operations
- State-based actors are playing a big role as highlighted by the Australian Government in June 2020.
The main threats from cyber criminals?
Phishing and business email compromise ransomware such as cryptolocker and Wannacry malware that encrypts your data and holds it to ransom. Spoofing attacks pretending to be other people usually attempting to directly steal funds.
What are basic tools they can use for protection?
Train your users! Use of multi-factor authentication, or MFA, means even if a cyber criminal gains your credentials they should be denied access without your mobile phone or other security token. Next generation endpoint protection. Traditional antivirus is no longer enough. Also next generation firewalls and/or secure web gateways to inspect inbound network traffic and make sure its legitimate.
About 60% of cybercrime impacts SMEs, yet small companies have smaller budgets. How can they still ensure protection?
Cloud technologies have made more secure solutions accessible. Common cloud solutions used by SMEs such as online accounting and email collaboration platforms like Office 365 have the tools for better protection; they just have to be configured appropriately. The other very economical and effective method is to educate staff with content from industry and government. The ACSC has great resources at cyber.gov.au.
How did COVID-19 affect Forsythes Technology?
Our company grew. Businesses are engaging us for increased security to facilitate new ways of working and to reduce their IT and telecommunications costs.
What do you predict will be rising cybersecurity threats in the next five years?
Cyber criminals will continue to invest in artificial intelligence to increase the sophistication, frequency and effectiveness of attacks, particularly by leveraging social engineering. Artificial intelligence will use many data points to correlate information about you to try and trick you into giving up passwords, clicking on something or taking an action you otherwise wouldn't. The trends of increasing frequency and sophistication show no signs of slowing down.
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Penelope Green
Business, news and feature reporter.
Business, news and feature reporter.
