We have all now been warned of the formidable effects cyber crime is having on our personal information, but are you aware of the prevention steps your business should be taking? Following on from the circulating news of the Optus and Medibank hacks, each business has been urged to take guard against online attacks.
Financial fraud in today’s age of online commerce is alarmingly high. In Australia it is costing business upwards of $1 billion each year. These rising statistics are targeting finance directors and their accounts payable team because of their ready access to critical payment processes and information.
Often small business owners think they have firewalls and antivirus software that will protect them completely from an attack, but this is simply not the case.
There are effective ways to implement comprehensive controls to protect your accounts payable. Here is a guide of the measures you should be taking to defend against cyber criminals:
Create a counter-fraud culture
Creating awareness within your business of the significant impacts fraud and suspicious incidents can have on a company.
Social Engineering Scams
Training employees to be aware of potential scams and assisting them to understand that scams are frequently impersonated in many forms.
Segregate Duties
Segregating duties to effectively assess the accounts payable and have control over the duties employees are individually carrying out.
Approval Authority Requirements
Requiring approval authority for specific transaction types and outgoing payments to prevent unauthorised and fraudulent transactions.
Password Hygiene
Utilizing more complex passwords to prevent unexpected impacts compromising your business and applying mandatory high standards of passwords. Using two step authentication processes where possible.
Software Tools
Building a strong counter-fraud culture by using spam filters to fight against cybercrimes and implementing proper policies and procedures.
As further protection for your business, insurers do offer Cyber Liability Insurance. This insurance helps businesses to prevent and safeguard against computer hacking, data breaches, employee error and rectification of such. For further information on what events this form of insurance covers and how best to protect your type of business. you should contact your insurance company directly or speak with your broker.
If you are concerned about your internal accounting systems and processes and need help in this area, feel free to reach out to the team at MJJ Accounting and Business Solutions and we can help to point you in the right direction to protect your business.
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