Safeguarding your sensitive data has never been more crucial than it is now. In 2021 alone, over 65,700 cyber crimes were reported, a staggering 13% increase from the previous financial year. The bad news for Australian businesses? This number hasn’t depleted or begun to drop off, rather, it has continued to rise.
The ever-prevalent threat of cyber crime has become an unwanted and dangerous – yet unavoidable – component of the world of business. As this is the case, it is integral that your business is well-placed to identify, mitigate and deter cyber threats – a notion the Australian Government have uncompromisingly pioneered.
In an effort to thwart and repel cyber crime, the Australian Government, alongside the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC), the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) and many others, have created certain Australian cyber security frameworks to aid businesses in the fight against cyber crime.
The Essential Eight
In 2017, the ASD created the Essential Eight, in an attempt to address three key lines of combating cybercrime, by preventing attacks, limiting the impact of an attack and data availability. The Essential Eight focuses on eight crucial mitigation strategies:
- Application control
- Patch applications
- User application hardening
- Admin privilege restriction
- Patch operating systems
- Multi-factor authentication
- Microsoft Office macro settings configuration
- Regular backups
The framework is measured against four maturity levels (zero through three) which allow organisations to gauge their current level of security, aspects of which they must improve and the means to do so.
ISO 27001
Although the ISO 27001 isn’t unique to Australia, it is the most commonly used standard for preserving information and data security. This framework supplies businesses with recommendations and preventative measures to fortify their systems against third-party, malicious threats. This comes in the form of standardised compliance checks and risk assessments, the implementation of which involves:
- Information Security
- Policy Risk Assessment
- Risk Treatment Statement of Applicability
- ISMS Manual and Procedures
- Information Security Improvement Plan
- Performance Monitoring Training.
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
While NIST offer voluntary guidance to businesses based in the USA, in an effort to oversee and minimise the volume, and impact, of cyber attacks – NIST is a framework that can be applied universally. Despite the fact that it was developed by the US government, as it is a broad and sweeping framework, it is still applicable and useful for Australian businesses. NIST provide support to organisations of all sizes, making them a fantastic source of information for smaller Australian businesses hoping to leverage a cyber security framework that works for their business needs.
Tekspace: Your trusted cyber security experts
With over 16 years of experience providing our customers with guidance on choosing the correct cyber security framework for their business, Tekspace is the ideal partner for you. We can help walk you through each of the frameworks available, and help you make the right decision for your business.
Get in touch with the experts today to book a free cyber security consultation and begin reviewing your security posture, today.
