Despite most people in New Zealand having access to a smartphone or computer for work, many Kiwis underestimate how vulnerable we are to cyber criminals. We mistakenly believe that our country’s geographic distance makes us an ‘island’ on the Internet. However, the reality is that everybody is connected in this digital world.
As the Team Leader of Kordia’s Security Operations Centre (SOC), I see evidence of this on a daily basis. Our team manage and respond to a vast range of threats and alerts for our Unified Security Management (USM) customers, successfully detecting and mitigating numerous attacks and intrusions on Kiwi businesses.
The more people use connected technology in their business the higher the exposure is to cyber threats. Technical security controls like two factor authentication (2FA), antivirus and password managers are becoming better and better, but the highest risk remains the same each year - people.
From the evidence we see through monitoring incidents in the SOC, many breaches could be avoided through the adoption of basic cyber security practices by non-IT staff members.
The issue with a lot of security tools and processes is that they were developed by technical people for technical people, but with technology now so accessible this approach is outdated. New methods of preventing cyber-attacks must consider the average user or they simply won’t be adopted. The best security tools are easy and intuitive to use – for example, using passphrases over complex passwords and facial recognition to access smartphones – as this embeds security habits into our natural tech usage.
There is also a perception that security professionals are difficult and intimidating to deal with. At Kordia, our SOC team work hard on building relationships with customers to ensure they feel open and relaxed about sharing security concerns without fear of judgement. It’s our job to make security easy and accessible, not to block people from doing their jobs.
Security doesn't need to be something scary or difficult. By taking a more human approach, together we can encourage more adoption of cyber safety best practice in our businesses.
The experts in Kordia’s SOC can take care of the technical aspects of your security posture, but the most effective cyber security strategy combines technical know-how with good cyber security hygiene. Like locking your front door when you leave the house, instilling good cyber safety habits is critical to the ongoing prosperity of your people and organisation.
If your business needs the peace of mind that technical support can give you to managing threats, talk to the team about whether Aura Information Security, Kordia’s cyber security consultancy, can help you - so you can focus on training and educating the people in your business to be more cyber safe.
