Julie Collins: No shame in seeking cyber support

Could your small business afford to lose $46,000? That is how much the Australian Signals Directorate estimates the average cyber incident cost one small business in the 2022-23 financial year.

That’s just from the 94,000 cybercrimes that were reported to the government. I know from talking to small businesses across Australia that the real number is probably much higher.

Sadly, what I hear from small business owners is there is still shame and stigma attached to falling victim to a cyber incident.

It’s not just e-commerce businesses that are at risk. You might use an online booking system to manage appointments, a cloud-based accounting package, or even just your email account. They all need to be secure.

That’s why my message to small businesses after October’s Cyber Security Awareness Month is to work with your trusted advisers and government to report and recover from cyber incidents and build your cyber resilience into the future.

Many of the ways you can prevent a cyber incident as a small business owner are simpler than you would think – having secure passwords, using multi-factor authentication and regularly updating software can put you in good stead.

I’m incredibly proud as Federal Minister for Small Business to be delivering a number of free supports to help small businesses stay safe online.

The Council of Small Business Organisations Australia’s Cyber Wardens program, funded by the Albanese Labor Government, provides free online training to small business owners and their staff on simple steps they can take to protect important business information and promote cyber safety in their team.

I also recently launched the Small Business Cyber Resilience Service, delivered by IDCARE, which is available to small businesses to assist them to recover from a cyber or privacy related incident and support them with cyber resilience assessment and advice.

The Department of Home Affairs is also developing a Cyber Health Check service for eligible small businesses.

The Albanese Labor Government is delivering more than $60 million in these important digital supports, as part of the more than $640 million in targeted and practical supports to small businesses in this year’s Budget.

You can find out more about these services and how to keep your small business cyber safe here.

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