Local Penrith businesses have been told that they are most risk of being exploited by cyber criminals because they usually lacked the IT resources to defend themselves. Cyber Security specialist and Chief Security Officer with Local Area Marketing, Burt Mascareigne, told members of the Penrith Small Business Owners Network, that rapidly spreading ransomware attacks use a smart, signatureless software bypassing traditional anti-virus and malware programs that rely on identifyi

More than 23 million messages were sent overnight in a new ransomware attack affecting computers throughout Australia. You may receive non-descriptive email messages with subject lines such as "please print", "documents" and "scans" – DO NOT open them! Delete such emails immediately! What Happens if I Click on the Link? Clicking on the ZIP attachment will launch a Visual Basic Script file that downloads the Locky and executes the ransomware into your computer. Locky then begi

As businesses rely more on digital technology, they increasingly expose themselves to disruptive cyber attacks, so prevention is rapidly becoming a major issue for business, particularly small businesses, who often lack the knowledge and skills to protect themselves. In response, the Federal Government's Department of Industry, Innovation and Science is running a series of free monthly webinars for business owners. Each 60 minute lunchtime webinar focuses on a different aspec

Cyber crime is here to stay and small businesses need to be prepared and alert. That was the message from Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman, Kate Carnell, to the 2017 Security Exhibition and Conference in Sydney recently. Ms Carnell said criminals have been targeting small business operators since commerce began. “What’s changed over the centuries isn’t the act of crime, but how it’s committed,” she said. “A burglar is just as likely to break into a co

Nearly 6000 businesses reported being targeted by scams in 2016 according to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s Targeting Scams report, with losses totalling around $3.8 million, an increase of almost 31 per cent. The highest losses were to computer hacking, fake investment schemes and buying and selling scams, according to reports made to Scamwatch over the past year. “As recent events with the WannaCry ransomware scam demonstrates, businesses can be just a

There's lot of talk about ransomware at the moment, but how does it work and do you really need protection? Well, in brief, it's one of the most malicious forms of cyber-attack you can experience and, yes, you definitely need stronger 'policing' of your computer network than your regular anti-virus protection. Ransomware infects a computer and restricts users’ access to it until a 'ransom' is paid to unlock it. Ransomware variants have been around for several years but have b