When the pandemic led a huge number of salons owners to focus on their digital offerings, it also opened them up to the possibility of cybercrime, whereby hackers targets small business owners, creeping into their financials, their pay roll, even their bank accounts. The issue has become so serious that the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) fields an average of 144 cybercrime reports a day, or one every 10 minutes.
With that in mind, the Australian Cyber Security Strategy 2020 was launched, seeing a $1.67 billion in funding to be used over the next ten years in increase online security for businesses and individuals.
Here’s how the strategy aims to assist salons.
Assistance on call
A $12.3 million expansion of the ACSC’s 24/7 advice hotline, an $8.3 million Cyber Security Connect and Protect Program will equip organisations to improve the cyber security of their local SMEs, the roll-out of threat-blocking technology and strengthened capabilities of law enforcement are just some of the ways the government plans to bolster SME’s protection against threats through the Cyber Security Strategy.
Help to give owners an understanding of the risks
According to a recent survey by the ACSC, one in five small business owners didn’t know the term “phishing” and close to half claimed their personal understanding of cybersecurity to be ‘average’ or ‘below average’. The Strategy aims to educate salon owners to better understand the risks involved in their everyday use of the internet.
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