Blog Post

Why Building Cyber Resilience is Critical for Your NFP

While cyber resilience should be a priority for not-for-profits (NFPs) a lack of resources often leads to inadequate security measures – and cyber criminals have taken notice. NFPs are now a target for hackers, with around 1 in 8 affected by a cyber security incident in 2023. Enhancing your defences has never been more critical when a successful attack can drain financial resources, disrupt essential services, and destroy the trusting relationships you’ve worked hard to establish and nurture.

At Impact we work with a range of NFPs to strengthen their cyber resilience, and today we’re looking at how our experts build your defences and help you meet compliance with comprehensive strategies. Before we jump in, we’re looking at one of the cyber threats that make elevating your security posture critical – data breaches.

The Risk of Data Breaches

Data breaches are on the rise and they’re a significant concern for NFPs, who handle and store the sensitive information of vulnerable communities. This threat involves confidential data being accessed or exposed, such as financial details, Personally Identifiable Information (PII), or login credentials. This information is highly valuable for hackers, who can sell it to other cyber criminals on the Dark Web or use it to execute further attacks.

A data breach can occur as a result of lost or stolen devices, a malicious insider attack, or a targeted cyber attack. In 2023, malicious attacks and cyber attacks made up 67% of the data breaches reported to the OAIC as part of the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme. In the case of cyber attacks, a data breach can occur as the result of phishing, malware and ransomware attacks, zero-day attacks which exploit software or hardware vulnerabilities, or denial-of-service attacks.

A successful attack puts the very people you’re supporting, volunteers, and donors at risk, leaving them vulnerable to identity theft, fraud, and financial loss. Being involved in a data breach can also very stressful and upsetting, taking a significant emotional toll on victims.

Now you’re familiar with a key concern for NFPs, let’s dive into the strategies we can use to build your defences against these threats.

5 Strategies We Use to Help NFPs Build Cyber Resilience

We build your NFP’s cyber resilience with a complete approach that employs a range of strategies. This includes:

1. Understanding Your Initial Security Posture
   Our team audits your security posture and identifies risks using the Australian Signal Directorate’s Essential Eight model. This ensures we can highlight areas for improvement, guide recommendations, and lay the groundwork for a robust cyber security posture.
   
2. Implementing the Essential Eight
   Briefly mentioned above, the Essential Eight are mitigation strategies developed by the ASD to build cyber resilience. This includes:

• Patching applications
• Patching operating systems
• Multi-factor authentication
• Restricting administrative privileges
• Application control
• Restricting Microsoft Office macros
• User application hardening
• Regular backups

The Essential Eight Maturity Model includes four levels (zero through to three), and our team are certified assessors who help you to identify the correct maturity level and meet compliance across each level until you reach your goal. This also supports data security and compliance.

3. User Awareness Training
   88% of successful attacks result from human error, so keeping your team educated, aware of best practices, and capable of spotting threats is critical to strengthen online defences. We deliver engaging and memorable video lessons based on real world attacks and use phishing simulations to test your team’s progress. This training can be delivered online to seamlessly fit into your schedule, or we can provide in person training.
   
4. Developing a Security Incident Response Plan
   Impact offers tailored incident response plans that encompass different types of cyber attacks from phishing to ransomware or advanced persistent threats. These are designed to suit your needs and vulnerabilities ensuring you can quickly contain and reduce the impact of a cyber incident. This can also support regulatory compliance.
   
5. Maintaining Cyber Resilience in the Long Term
   As attacks increase in sophistication, ensuring robust cyber defences are maintained is crucial. We can support you to achieve this with governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) services aligned with the Essential Eight framework, and can deliver continuous monitoring, auditing, and reporting so your security measures remain efficient and up to date. We help you to follow best practices and fulfil regulatory requirements, and to foster a security first culture.

How Impact ICT Can Support Your Goals

At Impact, we’re a preferred IT and cyber security partner for many NFPs in Mandurah, the Peel region, and Perth. We offer comprehensive cyber security measures to protect your business’ daily operations and reputation, help you to meet compliance, and keep confidential data secure.

Alongside being passionate about cyber security, we’re committed to putting the service back into customer service. So, we communicate without the IT jargon, provide friendly service, and deliver in person support to take the stress out of IT. If you’re interested in learning about the experience other NFP’s in the Peel region have had working with our team, head to our OVIS or Diversity South case studies.

If you’re ready to experience the Impact ICT difference, we’d love to chat about how we can strengthen your NFP’s cyber defences. Get in touch with our team today here.