Harvey Norman Technology For Business (HNTFB) recently partnered with The Crane Industry Council of Australia (CICA) with the aim of offering members solutions to the increasing threat from cyberattacks. Rutland Smith, Director of HNTFB, provides a detailed overview into the threats posed and how the household name brand can assist.
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“Harvey Norman Technology for Business has been in existence for almost five years. We realised that a number of our business customers were purchasing computers and hardware from our retail stores and were also looking for cyber security services. Because they were not big enough, they weren’t able to purchase the services they needed and HNTFB was created to fill that gap and provide services to small to medium businesses,” said Rutland.
Rutland explains why small to medium sized business owners should be concerned about cybersecurity and why it isn’t just a ‘big business’ issue.
“A lot of small business owners make the assumption that big businesses are at risk and their business is too small to be
a target. The reality is it’s the other way around. Cyber criminals tend to focus on smaller businesses, and that’s because they are more vulnerable and have much lower defences.
“We know from the Australian Cyber Security Centre statistics that 43 per cent of attacks in Australia actually happen to small businesses. So the first thing I’d say is the assumption that ‘I’m too small to be attacked’ is actually incorrect. The second thing I’d say is small businesses have the most to lose,” said Rutland.
“There are statistics out of the United States that confirm 60 per cent of small businesses who suffer a major breach go out of business within six months. That’s because of the costs, the loss of business, the damage to the reputation and, of course, there’s also the compliance regulations. All businesses have a duty of care to protect their customer data, including small businesses,” he said. Rutland explains how complicated cybersecurity can be for small to medium sized businesses and how HNTFB simplifies the process.
“One of the challenges for all businesses is to meet the standard of the courts. They have to implement the government risk mitigation framework called the ‘Essential Eight’. That’s an incredibly complicated framework to implement, and almost no small business, that I’m aware of, is capable of implementing that by themselves.
“By getting HNTFB on board as their IT department, we are able to provide a small business with all the support
that they need and also ensure they are compliant with that framework and provide the cybersecurity that the government has mandated,” said Rutland.
He goes on to discuss how HNTFB can help a crane hire business in practical terms.
“We are fortunate that we’ve entered into this relationship with CICA and we’ve created a landing page that’s been created specifically for CICA members https:// www.harveynormanbusiness.com.au/ pages/cica
“From this page, members are able to make contact with our team. They’re also able to see the special offers that are available to CICA members only, and they’re also able to learn more about cybersecurity by reading the ‘tips and tricks’ on the page.
“One of the topics that everyone will be confronted with over the next 12 to 24 months is businesses trying to sell Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions to small and medium businesses for a whole range of different purposes.
“The first thing is to be aware of is the potential damages of implementing AI incorrectly and how that can lead
to sensitive data being made available, which is something you just don’t want to happen.
“Secondly, I think it’s really important that in evaluating all of these different AI offerings, that you are working with a partner such as HNTFB which has the time and the dedicated resources to research the various options and understand what makes sense and what doesn’t make sense to your business,” said Rutland.
“We are asking owners of small to medium sized businesses to imagine how much more you can achieve with Harvey Norman as your IT department? We are just like a really large IT department for a big company. But we don’t just provide IT support and services, we also provide our customers with advice on what they should be doing with their IT moving forward,” he said,
Rutland explains the risks to small and medium sized crane businesses involved in government work such as Tier One projects.
“The first issue to be aware of is that most large government departments, and certainly most large corporations, are
now insisting that you have a certain level of cybersecurity before they’ll allow you to tender for their business. If you don’t meet the requirements, you won’t be allowed to tender or quote for the business. You’ll simply be prevented from even participating.
“The second issue is if you are dealing with a major corporation and a breach occurs in your business that ultimately affects their business, you’re not only legally liable for the damages that occur, it is also highly unlikely that you will never do business with that company again, and you will lose perhaps one of your biggest and most important clients. It can be absolutely disastrous for small businesses,” he said.
The federal government has a department called the Australian Cyber Security Centre, and they have published a cybersecurity risk mitigation framework called the Essential Eight. Think of it as similar to Occupational Health and Safety Guidelines, but instead of physical security, this is about cybersecurity. Rutland explains more.
“Under the findings of the courts, all businesses have a duty of care to protect their customer data, and the measurement for whether or not that duty has been discharged is whether or not the business has made the appropriate effort to implement the recommendations of the Essential Eight. The Essential Eight framework is complicated and it’s not something that you can implement by yourself, you need someone like us help you,” he said.
Working with CICA and its members is exciting for Rutland and his team at HNTFB.
“We’re really pleased that CICA have approached us for this partnership, it is great that they’re taking the initiative
in trying to protect their members from cyberattacks. We are keen to show CICA and its members what we are capable of and as a show of goodwill we are offering to provide an ‘Essential Eight Business Assessment’ free of charge. This normally retails for $499.
“There is nothing to be lost by having HNTFB conduct this assessment. We will provide members with an independent view that confirms everything is dandy and there is nothing to worry about, or we will provide you with a list of things that are missing and recommendations on how you can fix it. You don’t have to do that with us, you can go and do that with any provider you want,” said Rutland.
“With the various industry sectors we work in, there are always owners of small to medium sized businesses believing they are too small to be the subject of a cyberattack. We are here to tell you these criminals do not discriminate, they are targeting vulnerable businesses no matter the size, and as I’ve said, many businesses simply don’t recover from an attack. So, we are asking CICA members to take the FREE ‘Essential Eight Assessment’ and ask, ‘can you afford not to?’” Rutland concluded.