The Australian Government issued an alert in February 2022 calling for "organisations to urgently adopt an enhanced cyber security posture" (see www.cyber.gov.au), recommending patching applications & devices, adding multi-factor authentication & regular backups to cloud or external drive.
I found an interesting article here about what action is expected of a company director in this area, and their personal liability for their customers' loss. Many companies have "cyber" insurance for this particular risk, and the questions asked by the insurer may also indicate the action expected of an organisation. Are you insured for data breach? Does your insurer ask you any of the following questions at renewal?
- Is the Insured aware of any matter that is reasonably likely to give rise to any loss or claim?
- Is multi-factor authentication required for any remote access to the Insured’s systems (eg. Cloud based applications)?
- Are records held overseas?
Vulnerabilities, like one announced in April this year (which enables unauthorised access to your computers) might be considered reasonably likely to give rise to a loss or claim, so regular updates to your Act! software are essential.
Our Maintenance plan includes expert installation of the latest Act! version every year, plus untimed Act! error resolution for that install for up to 1 year, to help avoid unexpected support costs.
Of course an Act! subscription is required to access ongoing updates, and discounts are currently available for customers with prior Act! versions.
If you access Act! via a web browser, we offer Multi-Factor Authentication to keep your data safe, and may even reduce your insurance premium.
We can also move your Act! database to the cloud (hosted in Australia or New Zealand) - for automatic cloud backup & uninterrupted access - via web browser, mobile app, or optional sync to laptops/desktops for offline access.
Does your Act! database have a password policy & limit the permissions of each user to suit their role? Permission to export, backup or delete data should be limited to the users required to perform those tasks.
Read more about our Data Security options and please contact us or your local consultant if you have any questions.
