‘Be thinking about cyber security now’: Warning to local businesses after Russian cyber attacks

MAJGEN (Ret’d) Marcus Thompson – who was also the inaugural head of information warfare for the Australian Defence Force (ADF) – joined a special episode of the ifa Show this week to discuss the current conflict and Russia’s history of cyber and information warfare and what it could mean for Australian businesses.

In February, Prime Minister Scott Morrison and the Australian Cyber Security Centre’s (ACSC) issued a warning to local organisations that malicious activity may have local ramifications and MAJGEN Thompson agreed, saying the time to act is now.

“Be thinking about your cyber security now and what might be necessary to prevent, minimise, or respond to any incident directed your way,” he said.

“At the end of the day, the time for preparation is before, not during an attack or an incident. So, patching systems, patch, patch, patch, patch some more so that your hardware and your software has the latest updates, and therefore the most recent security measures applied.

“And close that gap on any vulnerabilities that could be exploited by a threat actor. Be thinking about where you might be vulnerable, including into your supply chain.”

MAJGEN Thompson added that businesses should be looking at, especially on the back of the COVID-19 pandemic, where they might be vulnerable internationally and domestically, and consider business continuity plans and crisis management procedures.

As well as this, MAJGEN Thompson said businesses should “stay close” to the ACSC through subscription to stay up to date with the most recent information available.

“But there is clearly heightened alerts going around. I mean, it's not every day that our Prime Minister goes on national television to warn the nation of the possible threat of cyber attacks,” he said.

It comes after firms such as EY, Deloitte, KPMG and PwC all severed links with Russia in the last week as the conflict continues.

Listen to the full podcast with MAJGEN Thompson here.

Neil Griffiths

Neil is the Deputy Editor of the wealth titles, including ifa and InvestorDaily.

Neil is also the host of the ifa show podcast.