Many businesses aren’t ready to deal with a cyber incident
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Dentons has launched a new cybersecurity service in Australia.
Called Dentons Cyber Ready, the service offers a fixed-price package of tailored plans and tools to deal with cyber incidents. This includes access to a customised Dentons Cyber Ready portal, through which clients can access documents, procedures, and training, as well as a 24-hour helpdesk.
Changes to Australia’s Privacy Act and the implementation of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) have increased compliance obligations and risks in the event of cyber-attacks and data breaches, said Ben Allen, partner and head of Denton’s white collar and government investigations practice in Australia.
“Yet many businesses, particularly in the SME market, don’t have a plan or the tools in place to deal with a cyber incident,” he said. “And the fall-out from a breach can be huge.”
Major investments in brand reputation and customer trust can be quickly undone if organisations are not ready to quickly respond to incidents, he said.
“We’ve seen this happen recently in Australia with PageUp’s data breach that resulted in a lot of negative media coverage,” Allen said. “With Dentons Cyber Ready, we’re offering organisations a comprehensive and tailored solution that helps them put a detailed plan in place and ensures that they have all the tools they need to respond quickly.”
The service is already winning over customers. Regan Stathers, executive general manager for technology and property at The Whiddon Group, said that ensuring that their organisation is ready to deal with any cyber incident is critical, especially for organisations such as theirs that care and support very vulnerably community members.
“We recently engaged Ben Allen and his team to assist with a cyber-incident and their advice was both commercial and practical in minimising business disruption and supporting any affected customers, whilst ensuring we met and exceeded our legislative obligations,” Stathers said.
From experience, businesses that take steps now minimise the risk of damaging hard-won brand reputation in the future, Allen said.
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