Australia’s Data Breach Notification Laws Part 4: What's Next?

Now that we’ve reached the end of this four-part series on Australia's new data breach notification laws, the only thing left to do is to tie it all together: which means getting started on building a better, stronger business that is better able to counter cybersecurity risks as much as possible.

We've covered what the laws are, what problem they intend to help solve and, by association, why they're so important. We've covered what steps you should take in order to better protect your business, both in terms of the types of fines you're subject for noncompliance and in terms of the types of devastating threats you face in the modern digital world. We've covered the type of data breach response plan that you should already have for when that fateful day unfortunately comes.

It All Begins at the Top

Perhaps the most important thing to understand about all of this is that true cybersecurity requires a buy in from every member of your organisation, starting with company leadership up to the last employee.

Without the full support of every last member of your organisation, from the people that have to approve the necessary budget to the employees who need to be able to spot something like a ransomware attack or phishing email before they fall into its trap, your quest may be over before it has even started.

Use Facts to Your Advantage

When making your argument in favour of making cybersecurity a bigger focus across your organisation, always back up your points with as many cold, hard facts as possible. Consider the following points:

• Remember that there were 1,579 publicly disclosed data breaches in 2017 alone — a massive 44.7% from the number reported in 2016.

• One study even estimates that there were about 1.9 billion (yes, you read that right) records containing personal or sensitive information that were compromised between January 1, 2017 and March 20, 2018.

• Another study estimates that 75% of those attacks came from external sources — meaning the types of people around the world who want to do your business harm.

These are the types of statistics you need to be using to convince everyone in your organisation how important cybersecurity truly is. Not just from the perspective of making sure we're compliant with new data laws to avoid getting hit with penalties, but because cyber crime in general is a problem that is only going to get worse before it gets better. The only thing you can control is what you do to mitigate risk as much as possible.

Find the Right Partner

Equally important is your ability to find the right partner for all of your cybersecurity needs — something that a business IT company and/or managed services provider can help a great deal with.

Maintaining your own in-house IT infrastructure is difficult on the best of days, to say nothing of how hard it can become when such a huge part of your focus must turn towards being as proactive as possible when it comes to cybersecurity.

The Major Cybersecurity Advantages of a Managed Service Provider

Partnering with a managed services provider won't just help make sure your entire IT infrastructure is properly aligned with your long-term goals. They can also use their years of experience to your advantage to help you come up with a comprehensive, holistic approach to cybersecurity that you can turn to when you need it the most. 

Finding the right MSP can help put you in a position to better identify the unique types of risks that your organisation will face, which as we've established, is one of the core components to coming up with the right disaster response plan. They can be incredibly valuable in terms of updating software, applying patches, making sure your network is as secure as possible, and performing other tasks that are critical to stopping people from infiltrating your network in the first place.

Staying on the Cutting Edge of Protection

Additionally, an MSP can not only help protect your business, it can also help you leverage the full power of modern technology to your advantage while making sure that you're always compliant with mandatory data breach laws, both the ones that exist today and the ones that continue to evolve as the digital landscape changes.

There are certain tasks that are far too important to go at alone and it's safe to say that cybersecurity has officially become one of them. A managed services provider can help you accomplish all of these goals and more, freeing up as much of your time as possible so that you can spend less time worrying about data breach notification laws and cybersecurity and more time focusing on building the business you've been trying to run in the first place.

Powernet: Your Partner in Effective Cybersecurity

At Powernet, we've always strived to be more than just another business IT company. Technology is ultimately just a tool, the same as anything else. The only thing that matters involves making sure that you have the right tool for the right challenge at exactly the right time. This, in a lot of ways, is what getting prepared for Australia's new data breach notification laws is all about.

If you have any additional questions about what these cybersecurity and data breach laws will mean for your organisation moving forward, or if you'd just like to sit down and speak to someone about your own situation in more detail, contact Powernet today.