Ways to Stay Cyber-Safe This Holiday Period

Ways to Stay Cyber-Safe This Holiday Period

The lead-up to Christmas and New Year is always one of Australia’s busiest times for online activity.

Given the significant spike in online shopping and digital transactions taking place – from computers, laptops, tablets and smartphones – it’s no surprise that cyber-criminals are also highly active. Sometimes deviously subtle, sometimes remarkably bold, these are all manner of scams and threats to be aware of to protect yourself, your staff and your business as a whole.

While the constantly-changing nature of cyber threats means no list can ever be exhaustive, the team at Insurance Advisernet has compiled a list of seven tips for minimising the risks this festive season, based on the advice provided by the Australian Cyber Security Centre.

Note: As an added benefit, most of these tips will protect you year-round too!

Tip 1: Buy Only From Trusted Sites

Whether you’re purchasing something online for personal or business purposes, it’s always a good idea to cross-check information on the seller’s website to make sure you’re dealing with the official seller.

Cybercriminals are very active this time of year and can create a fake site impersonating the real site to get money or personal information from you.

Tip 2: Pay Securely

If you are purchasing something online and they ask you to pay via direct bank deposit, more often than not, it’s a cybercriminal. Always use secure payment methods like PayPal, Bpay or credit card, which come with in-built fraud protection.

This differs from direct bank deposits and money transfers, where you are unlikely to get your money back if you get scammed.

Tip 3: Be Wary of Online Auctions

Online auctions can be used to secure a great deal, but they also attract plenty of cybercriminals.

One of the most common auction scams is when cybercriminals offer you an item you’ve unsuccessfully bid on outside of the auction site. Then, once you’ve paid, you don’t hear from them again.

Tip 4: Be Cautious of Fake Delivery Scams

In the lead up to Christmas, thousands of fake parcel delivery notifications get sent out by email and SMS pretending to be from legitimate parcel delivery services. However, you need to be careful as they try to trick you into downloading malware or giving away your personal and financial details.

To check if you think it’s a scam, you can look at the sender’s email. If it’s a cybercriminal, the email address won’t be from a parcel delivery service such as Australia Post, DHL or FedEx.

Tip 5: Change Your Passwords

It’s a great cyber practice to use strong and unique passwords and update them regularly, even more so at Christmas time when cybercriminals are very active. Also, consider using more challenging security questions & multi-factor authentication so they can’t guess easily and hack into your accounts. Also consider multi-factor authentication.

Tip 6: Protect Your Network

Ensure all of your network devices have up-to-date antivirus and anti-malware protection and that it’s running and not disabled. Where employees connect their personal devices to your network, this can greatly increase the chance of security breaches, so be sure to have clear policies explaining what is and isn’t acceptable.

Tip 7: Use Secure Wi-Fi Only

With more and more Australians working remotely, Wi-Fi security is becoming a major risk.

While most in-house company networks are secure, external Wi-Fi can be a very different story. Typically unsecured, you and your team need to be careful when sharing sensitive personal or financial information over these networks.

In a Nutshell

If you’re worried about the security of your network and cyber information, consult with the team at Insurance Advisernet to learn more about cyber insurance. With more and more businesses moving online, having cyber insurance is critical to keeping your business and employees’ assets covered.

If you’d like to learn more about how we can cover your business with cyber insurance, visit our website or contact us.

Important Information

This communication including any weblinks or attachments is for information purposes only. It is not a recommendation or opinion, your personal or individual objectives, financial situation or needs have not been taken into account. This communication is not intended to constitute personal advice.

We strongly recommend that you consider the suitability of this information, in respect of your own personal objectives, financial situation and needs before acting on it. This document is also not a Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) or a policy wording, nor is it a summary of a particular product’s features or terms of any insurance product. If you are interested in discussing this information or acquiring an insurance product, you should contact your insurance adviser to obtain and carefully consider any relevant PDS or policy wording before deciding whether to purchase any insurance product.

Cyber Insurance

Technology has never been so deeply entwined in our businesses. While it delivers significant efficiencies and convenience, it also comes with significant cyber risks.

Cyber Insurance

What is Cyber Insurance?

During the 2020-21 financial year, the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) observed self-reported losses from cybercrime in Australia totalling a staggering $33 billion. Most businesses rely on technology to some extent, which means they’re exposed to increasingly sophisticated cybercriminals. According to the ACSC, an average of 164 cybercrime reports are made by Australians every day – that's about one report every 10 minutes.

Cyber Insurance covers the physical loss or damage to information, IT systems and networks. It can also cover loss of profits to be business, caused by the introduction of malware, extortion or hacking, as well as management of the incident itself.

Why is Cyber Insurance important?

Businesses must have guards against hackers and other types of cyber breaches. What’s more, because of stricter data privacy laws, they’re increasingly required to ensure personal information is secure. A breach will be investigated and require costly actions, including contacting hundreds or thousands of customers. There’s also the potential for hefty fines and penalties.

It’s easier to buy an insurance cover that protects your main cyber-related risks of damage to your systems and recovery, rather than trying to find specialist consultants to rebuild systems and keep the business operating. Cyber Insurance policies also generally include significant support with managing the incident, which can be essential when faced with reputational damage or regulatory enforcement.

What does Cyber Insurance cover?

There is a wide range of Cyber Insurance available. While all policies cover liability to third parties for passing on viruses, some also cover damage to your own networks.

Additional sections that we recommend considering include:

incident response – specialists to identify the issue and repair
lost income and additional costs related to the incident
data recovery and restoration
consumer notification costs and ongoing monitoring costs
legal defence costs
cyber extortion management and fees
crisis and PR management of the incident
management of communications with regulators.

Managing cyber risks to your business

Cyber Insurance is a key part of your management of cyber incidents and attacks. Many resources are available to help minimise the likelihood of a successful attack, including the Australian Cyber Security Centre.

The top 3 things that you can do easily are:

Update your devices to protect information.
Set up multi-factor authentication for logging on.
Back up your data real-time of at least daily.

Explore your insurance options today. Talk to your professional insurance and risk adviser and get the best cover for you and your risks.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is not covered by Cyber Insurance?

Like any insurance, not everything is covered by your policy. Some common exclusions include:

personal injury
consumer redress funds, unless specifically covered
loss of money or securities, unless specifically covered
your intentional conduct or wrongful use of personal information
failure to take reasonable care in securing your IT systems

Is Cyber Insurance required in Australia?

Cyber Insurance can help you to manage your business's financial risks. While it isn’t mandatory in Australia, it is expected that certain businesses have some level of cover in place – including critical industries, care, finances and utilities. Without insurance, you would be forced to pay out of your own pocket for repair, recovery, and remediation costs from a cyber incident or attack.

What are the main areas covered under Cyber Insurance?

Cyber Insurance typically helps you with expenses spent on five main areas:

Third-party liability
Emergency response and business continuity assistance
Recovery of your data and IT systems
Business interruption due to interference to your systems
Loss to you from crime or fraud.

Does Cyber Insurance cover data loss?

Yes, Cyber Insurance covers your lost information and data, as well as any loss caused to your customers or suppliers if a virus is transferred. It also covers:

notifying potentially affected customers of a data breach
employing computer forensic experts to identify and restore data
repairing damaged computer systems, both hardware and software, to enable the data and systems to operate.

What are the benefits of Cyber Insurance?

Cyber insurance is a specialist insurance policy that provides cover against cyber incidents or attacks that aren’t covered by other insurance policies, such as professional indemnity, management liability, or business packs. This could potentially leave a gap in cover. A Cyber Insurance policy will pay for legal costs, crisis managers, and payment of credits and refunds to customers.

Technology has never been so deeply entwined in our businesses. While it delivers significant efficiencies and convenience, it also comes with significant cyber risks.