Business standards company, BSI, has revised its Information Security ISO, but still too many Australian companies aren't taking cyber-attacks seriously.
The 2013 revision by BSI of the international standard organisation's (ISO), ISO 27001 Information Security, combined with the launch of Star Certification for Cloud security providers represents a comprehensive rethink of the organisations approach in addressing cyber security, and will assist local business confidence.
BSI's CEO, Howard Kerr, said that ISO 27001 is one of the fastest growing management systems globally, and the 2013 revision of the standard will assist businesses of all sizes to address cyber security threats.
“The challenges currently faced are quite phenomenal and with the introduction of the cloud, these issues potentially impact the whole supply chain,” he said.
According to Symantec's Internet Security Threat Report 2013 the risk of a cyber attack on any business has risen by 250 percent since 2010.
As ARN reported back in October Cyber crime costs Australians $1.06 billion, cyber crime cost Australian business $1.06bn in the last year, and affected 5 million people.
Businesses are now managing a doubling of data every 1-2 years, which puts a strain on company infrastructure, and the employees that administer it. The move to Cloud has seen more and more companies putting commercially sensitive information outside the physical company premises - and into the unknown.
Kerr also cautioned that, with the rise of mobility and BYOD, these more flexible forms of working are producing even more security hazards.
The Security for Business Innovation Council back in 2010 stated that a quarter of organisations have experienced a serious security incident due to the connection of personal devices onto corporate networks.
“All of these developments are making information security increasingly difficult to manage with threats are growing in sophistication and impact and greater penalties being imposed by regulators for breaches and the risks associated with reputational damage,” said Kerr.
Its not just businesses that are being attacked either.
“The scale of the problem remains unquantifiable: not only are governments and their supply chains being attacked,” he said, “but the magnitude of the problem remains an unknown.
BSI acquired NCSI in May 2013, which increased its Australian presence. BSI now certifies more than 3500 clients in Australia.
Allan Swann is a Senior Editor at IDG Communications Australia. Follow Allan on Twitter at @allanswann.
