Independent skills training provider Data Scouts will offer its ‘Cyber Safety Awareness’ remote working program free of charge to the public for the first time as part of its support program for work from home employees.
Across the four modules of the remote working training program, participants can learn safe practices across areas such as password security, home and VPN security, public WiFi security and spear phishing.
Over the last three weeks, the Australian Cyber Security Centre has received over 45 incident reports from individuals and businesses around COVID-19 themed scam and phishing activity. A Proofpoint report this week outlined that 80 per cent of the overall threat landscape will be using the Coronavirus as a theme in their attacks.
The four modules for remote working program will remain free for the month April as the Australian workforce transitions to the new work-from-home normal.
Data Scouts founder Will Scully-Power: “The world has changed in recent weeks. But the one thing that hasn’t is that over 90 per cent of cyber breaches are as a result of human error.
“This error is magnified when employees are out of the office environment where networks are routinely monitored and controlled. Every business is at a greater risk right now which is why we felt it was important to ensure every Australian had access to the training,” Mr Scully-Power said.
The ‘Cyber Safety Awareness’ training was created as a response to the Toll Group Mailto ransomware incident earlier this year. One study by Cyentia Institute found that financial loss from so-called ‘ripple events’, where numerous companies are impacted, can be 13 times greater than when just single-party incidents.
Right now there is a lot of technology in place to help around cyber security but the key missing element is often the process around what happens when a breach is caused.
The problem can then often be exacerbated by human error. Employers can significantly reduce their cyber risk by providing awareness training to a team.
Data Scouts co-founder Marcus Zeltzer said:“We’ve already heard reports of Centrelink phishing scams, which given the current economic climate, are only going to rise.”
“It’s hard to admit but the weakest link in a company’s security measures is always its staff. Behaviour change comes from experience, not a bullet point list in a mass emailer,” Mr Zeltzer said.
Data Scouts has been working with governments and blue chip companies to provide customer experience training.
The expansion into cyber safety awareness is aimed at ensuring all Australian businesses are as prepared as they can be against malicious attacks. There are 12 more modules in the cyber safety awareness training program.
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