Cyber-security equals trust: The importance of proactivity when protecting client data

Cyber-security equals trust: The importance of proactivity when protecting client data

For today’s businesses, proactively detecting and responding to cyber threats is essential in building and maintaining trust amongst clients, peers and wider industries. In this first of three articles on identifying, managing and responding to a cyber breach, we’ll discuss the most common challenges businesses may experience when reviewing their cyber security, starting with the responsibility of protecting client data. Read on for some solutions backed by case studies of organisations that have overcome these challenges and gained customer loyalty as a result.

Cyber breaches are more frequent and costly than ever before

The rise of cyber breaches has become a significant problem for businesses worldwide. According to IBM’s 2021 Cost of a Data Breach Report, the average cost of a data breach was $3.86m USD, and the time to identify and contain a breach was 287 days.

That’s no small amount of money or time.

This not only results in a significant financial loss for businesses but can also damage their reputation, making it difficult or impossible to recover. Detecting and responding to cyber threats in a timely and effective manner presents a significant challenge for all businesses.

While larger organisations have faced a constant barrage of cyber-attacks as the digital sphere expands, smaller businesses also need to carefully consider what they can do to protect their own data and protect their client's data. And while having a solid lock on the front door is always a great starting point for your cyber security, the sheer number and sophistication of modern cyber-attacks mean it’s more likely than not that somebody will eventually get break in.

Strengthening your cyber security can be overwhelming

Many businesses may feel frustrated, not knowing if their current security measures are enough to keep them safe, or anxious about not being able to respond quickly if a breach does occur. It can all get a little overwhelming and getting all your ducks in a row when it comes to a well-rounded and robust cyber security process can take some time, and often require outside expert help.

We often find that there is a parallel between IT maturity level and the level of motivation to strengthen cyber security. Many organisations with a lower security maturity, although they do feel uneasy about the possibility of a cyber-attack, struggle to go to the next step if there is no “real and present danger”.

Even for those businesses who have some effective security measures in place already, there’s still some uncertainty around what else they need to do to protect themselves, and decide that, as no cyber-attack has happened, they are adequately covered. The complacency causing them to think that their data isn’t worth stealing or attacking, inevitably leaves them beyond vulnerable when that proves to be untrue.

The first step in improving your organisation’s cyber security is, rather than be held back by these stressors and misconceptions, use them as your motivation to seek help. Cyber security comes in all shapes and sizes, but what unites all the good ones is that they protect your business, customers and protects customer data.

Making a difference by being proactive

In a recent case study , Techware highlights the benefits of implementing a detect and response strategy before things go wrong.

After learning about a massive ransomware attack and subsequent data breach within one of Australia’s largest logistics companies, Techware’s manufacturing customer recognised that although data breach prevention methods are essential to staying on top of cyber threats, these methods are not always fool proof.

By adopting an end-to-end security operations process for finding and managing security threats across the entire lifecycle, using a standard, repeatable and proven DR implementation, Techware was able to identify further threats, reduce risks of surface attacks and continue to support their existing working models with confidence in system security.

Techware was then able to provide a clearer insight into where the company’s vulnerabilities lie and hope to strengthen them against future breaches. With this information at hand, the manufacturing customer can confidently protect client data, knowing that their critical information assets are now constantly monitored through a dedicated detection and response solution.

Techware: Giving you the right tools to keep your business secure

Ultimately, taking even the smallest steps towards a better breach response strategy can help keep out unwanted visitors and your sensitive data secure. With a made for purpose data protection solution like Techware’s Detect & Response plan and the right expert support, any business can take the necessary action and improve their cybersecurity posture and avoid potentially catastrophic cyber breaches in the future.
Techware's Detect & Response solution provides the extra layer of protection businesses need in order to be prepared for unwanted cyber breaches.

It’s designed to identify vulnerabilities and plug gaps before any damage occurs, minimising long term damage, and safeguarding against future attacks. With this added peace of mind, you can easily take a more proactive stance in your approach to security and respond quickly and effectively in the event of a breach.

By reinforcing the basic ‘front door lock’ that many businesses feel is enough, Techware’s Detect & Response solution not only identifies a breach and quickly notifies the right relevant personnel, but it also captures and stops attacks from spreading further into an exposed IT system.

Have you read our breach detection whitepaper?

For more information on Australia’s modern cyber security landscape and how you can get ahead of unwanted cyber threats, check out our whitepaper: To Catch a Breach in 2023: What to look out for, how to mitigate damage and stop further breaches

Packed with information on protecting your organisation from the financial and reputational damage of a breach, this guide covers evolving cyber threats, key information on how, why and where cyber breaches occur, and an easy to implement list of actions based on the ACSC framework you can take to keep your IT environment safe.

If you’d like peace of mind that your client's data is secure, book in for one of our complimentary 30 min discovery calls and learn how Techware can help your business make a change today.