Welcome to Cybersecurity Awareness Month, a time to remind ourselves of the steps we can take to prevent an unwelcome cyber event that can be highly damaging to small and family-owned businesses.

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The many activities over October remind us that we are not on our own in tackling the scourge and threat posed by cyber criminals.

Help is available, and there are simple and important steps we need to take ourselves to maximise protection.

Just like we wouldn't leave our business premises empty overnight with the doors open, lights left on and our security system deactivated, we need to bring this same mindset and culture to our online business environment and embrace cyber safeguards.

This awareness month needs to be Small Business Cyber Security Action Month, where we take practical steps to protect ourselves and our businesses online, and secure our devices and accounts from cyber threats.

Being aware of cyber threats and risks to your business is good, but taking action is what is truly necessary.

When small and family businesses invest in digital and cyber-related business solutions, team training and a say-no-to-cyber-threats culture, they are starting, updating or re-evaluating protections to keep their business cyber secure and digital safe. And this makes good business sense.

The average self-reported cost of a cybercrime on a small business is $49,600, according to the most recent figures released by the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC).

It can also have longer-term financial and business survival consequences, as businesses seek to recover vital business systems and information, invest in improved security measures to prevent future attacks, and possibly pay more for and focus on mitigating customer harm and regaining their confidence. For too many small businesses, a cyberattack is an enterprise-ending event.

It's not just the monetary cost, which in itself is a devastating blow for small businesses that often have little to no cash reserves.

There is lost time in dealing with the incident and fallout, either to stem the loss or to deal with the aftermath of a cyber incident, with businesses losing, on average, 21 days of time and lost productivity.

This........

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