{"id":866,"date":"2021-08-23T10:53:00","date_gmt":"2021-08-23T10:53:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.cryptoloc.au\/?p=866"},"modified":"2023-10-03T06:19:39","modified_gmt":"2023-10-03T06:19:39","slug":"why-encryption-is-a-must-for-business-owners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/127.0.0.1\/why-encryption-is-a-must-for-business-owners\/","title":{"rendered":"Why encryption is a must for business owners"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

How valuable is your data? Can you afford to lose it? If not, it\u2019s time to consider the role that encryption can play in protecting your systems from ransomware and other forms of cybercrime.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cybercrime is increasing at an alarming rate, targeting both businesses and individuals, with a recent Australian <\/a>Institute<\/a> of Criminology report<\/a> estimating its total annual economic impact in Australia at $3.5 billion. And the more complacent people are about the risks of data theft, the easier targets they become.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mathias Gaertner is a world-leading expert on cybercrime. Mathias is a Cyber Security expert serving as external Data Privacy Officer for over 30 companies across Europe, and he was a Lecturer of Information Science for 16 years. As an Expert Witness for Systems and Applications of Information Technology for the German Government, Mathias argues encryption is an effective way to protect data against ransomware attacks and unwelcome intruders. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEncryption is a way to make sure that only the people with the correct decryption key can access your data,\u201d he says. \u201cEncryption helps to mitigate the risk of an attack or intrusion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf someone intrudes in your computer, they can see all of the files. However, if the files are encrypted, they can still see the files, but not the content<\/em> of those files. And if the person can\u2019t see the content of the file, they can\u2019t make use of it. It doesn\u2019t necessarily protect against stealing the files, but it makes that data unusable for others.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Debunking the myth<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Gaertner says it\u2019s a myth that passwords, firewalls and other forms of perimeter security are sufficient protection against a cyber attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe paradigm needs to change,\u201d he says. \u201cFor the past 20 years we have been teaching people that this type of security is sufficient. But perimeter security doesn\u2019t take into account the human factor.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gaertner says social engineering activities \u2013 \u2018hacks\u2019 achieved through human interactions \u2013 are what most often lead to people unwittingly inviting intruders into their network, leaving them vulnerable to ransomware.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWith ransomware, it\u2019s usually the user who invites in the intruder through clicking a link in a phishing email that installs spyware,\u201d he says. \u201cThis constitutes a breach which a firewall can\u2019t work against.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPerimeter security does not take into account intrusions from inside the firewall or network. But even if the intruder is within the network or firewall, if the data is encrypted, it makes that data useless to them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not a question of if you will be hacked, but a question of when\u201d<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

For some cybercriminals, access to intelligence is the target. This is especially true of places like research labs, where there may be sensitive data or patented ideas stored within the network. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGaining intelligence about someone\u2019s work, patent or research can be a cyber criminal\u2019s main interest,\u201d Gaertner says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But even if you\u2019re not running a research lab, or another type of business that would seem to make an obvious target for cybercriminals, Gaertner says encryption is a must. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2028\u201cIf you have data that is worth protecting, you should protect it with reasonable means,\u201d he says. \u201cEncryption helps mitigate against a successful attack against your systems. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not a question of if you will be hacked, but a question of when. But even if you are hacked, the attacker shouldn\u2019t be able to access your files if they\u2019re encrypted.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After all, there\u2019s often little rhyme or reason to where cybercriminals attack. The recent Microsoft Exchange attack<\/a>, for instance, saw hackers take advantage of an identified attack vector to compromise at least 30,000 email systems, including schools, hospitals, city councils and businesses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The goal was to smash and grab as much data as possible before the vulnerability was closed, regardless of where the data came from, and make sense of it later. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t see there being any<\/em> businesses that shouldn\u2019t use encryption,\u201d Gaertner says. \u201cIt is easy to obtain and maintain, and the downside of not using it is significant.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How important is your data?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

When choosing the level of encryption your business requires, Gaertner says it\u2019s essential to consider what\u2019s stored in your files, and what that could be worth to someone looking to either steal the intellectual property or place a ransom on the data. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe more important the information, the harder type of encryption you should use,\u201d he says. \u201cYou have to find the right balance between the different types of encryption. There is everything from encrypting on a file level, where every file has its own password to access it, down to an encrypted disk that\u2019s decrypted when the computer boots. You should consider how much security you need by how much worth there is in your data.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you decide your data isn\u2019t important, you\u2019d better be sure about it \u2013 because even your employees\u2019 personal information could become a target.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEach business owner needs to think about the personnel intelligence stored in their data,\u201d Gaertner says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll the information about their employees\u2019 personal details \u2013 contact details, bank account numbers and addresses \u2013 can also be compromised, and people can have their identity stolen. Without using a suitable method of encryption, you, as a business owner, made it possible for that data to be stolen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou have to be able to understand the \u2018what if?\u2019 scenario. It\u2019s like insurance: an intruder in the network may not be an everyday occurrence, but by using encryption, you are insuring yourself against the worst case scenario if there is a breach.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How valuable is your data? Can you afford to lose it? If not, it\u2019s time to consider the role that encryption can play in protecting your systems from ransomware and other forms of cybercrime. Cybercrime is increasing at an alarming rate, targeting both businesses and individuals, with a recent Australian Institute of Criminology report estimating its total annual economic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1102,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/127.0.0.1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/127.0.0.1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/127.0.0.1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/127.0.0.1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/127.0.0.1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=866"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/127.0.0.1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1139,"href":"https:\/\/127.0.0.1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866\/revisions\/1139"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/127.0.0.1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/127.0.0.1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/127.0.0.1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/127.0.0.1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}