eManaged Pty Ltd Blog

In an era where digital threats loom large over businesses of all sizes, Australian organizations are under increasing pressure to fortify their cyber defenses. Responding to this need, the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) developed the Essential 8—a set of eight critical strategies designed to protect businesses from a range of cybersecurity threats. Compliance with these standards is not only a safeguard but also a regulatory requirement for many, particularly those interacting with government bodies.

With ransomware attacks, system hijacks, and social engineering scams making headlines almost weekly, it’s no surprise that more business owners are asking the question:
“Should I get cyber insurance?”

The short answer?
Yes—but that’s not where your cybersecurity strategy should start.

Let’s talk about why businesses are buying cyber insurance, what it does and doesn’t cover, and why the smartest move is to invest in prevention first.

Here’s a wake-up call for small businesses: cybercrime is costing Australian businesses billions every year—and small businesses are taking the biggest hit. According to the Victorian Chamber of Commerce, more than 60% of cybercrime victims are small businesses, and the average attack costs $39,000 in downtime and recovery.

That’s not just a hit to your bottom line—it’s a threat to your survival. If you’re running lean and stretched thin, losing $39K isn’t just painful—it’s game over.

Recent news of alleged unethical practices within the business community has undoubtedly left many feeling uneasy. It’s always unsettling to see trust broken in industries that thrive on collaboration and integrity. But situations like these can serve as an important reminder: choosing the right business partner is crucial, not just for your operations, but for your peace of mind.

When most people think about IT, they envision a technician coming in to fix their computers, set up networks, or recover lost files. But here’s the truth: an effective IT strategy goes far beyond just keeping the machines running. For small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), IT is the backbone of everything—security, data management, productivity, and growth. Unfortunately, many businesses don't realize that a comprehensive IT strategy is essential for staying competitive in today’s fast-paced digital landscape.

Cybersecurity is important. Scroll through a few pages of our blog and you’ll see article after article talking about threats and ways to make yourself and your business less vulnerable to cyberthreats. As an IT professional, however, I’d be so much happier if the state of the world didn’t require such a massive effort just to protect oneself and we could just talk about cool stuff you can do with modern technology all the time!

But alas, strong cybersecurity is crucial to virtually any organization, and it’s becoming even more important by the month.

When I was a kid, there was a Tex Avery cartoon where Droopy Dog was chasing down a crook who escaped from jail. There was a particular scene where the crook (I think it was a wolf in a black-and-white striped jumpsuit) takes a bus, a plane, a ship, and a taxi to a secluded cabin, and then closes a series of increasingly complex doors with a large number of locks, in order to hide away from the pursuing cartoon basset hound. 

Of course, when he turns around, exhausted by all the effort he puts in, he realizes that Droopy is standing right behind him, and greets him with a monotone “hello.”

I haven’t seen this cartoon since I was 7 years old, but I almost always think about it when I am using multi-factor authentication. 

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act is a regulation passed by the US congress in 1996 to help streamline the healthcare system while maintaining individual ePI privacy over individuals’ health records. This regulation was put in place to allow people to transfer their health coverage, but also to minimize the risk individuals take on as far as fraud and abuse of their health records is concerned. This week we’d thought we’d discuss four ways your technology can help your organization keep its HIPAA compliance. 

Cloud computing is a major growth industry as businesses and individuals look to use the computing strategy to either save money or get resources that they would typically not be able to commit to. With cloud computing becoming more and more integrated into business each year, it stands to reason that the once Wild West of cloud computing would start to see a lot more regulation. This week, we’ll take a look at how the cloud is regulated and what to expect out of cloud regulation down the road. 

2020 was, obviously, a challenging year for healthcare providers. In addition to the obvious issue of the COVID-19 pandemic creating serious operational, financial, and supply chain difficulties, cybersecurity concerns didn’t go away during this time. Let’s consider some of the additional stresses that IT security needs can, will, and have placed on healthcare providers.

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has released an emergency directive concerning a critical exploit known as Zerologon, that affects servers running Windows Server operating systems that needs to get patched as soon as possible.

The days of the cash-only business are over. It doesn’t matter if your business is a multinational corporation or you cut grass for a living, accepting payment cards is not only convenient for your customers, most of the time it’s the most secure way to get paid. In an effort to protect the personal and financial information of consumers who have come to depend on their payment cards, the banks that back the credit card industry have developed a regulation that businesses who process cards need to adhere to. Today, we will go over this regulation and how it affects small and medium-sized businesses