Cybersecurity breaches in Australia have been in the news frequently lately. You may even been impacted by the recent Optus or Medibank data exposures personally.  

But did you know that Not for Profits, such as member associations are regularly the victims of such attacks too?

Is your organisation doing everything it can to prevent cybersecurity breaches?

Unfortunately, many associations wait for a breach before seriously considering the IT investments required to keep their members’ data and IT infrastructure safe. I’m regularly asked to help map out such investments after the fact.

Yet, there are easy cybersecurity mitigations that can be deployed at any time for a smaller investment:

• The first is regular training for your staff and volunteers. Various studies have shown that 74% to 88% of all cybersecurity breaches were caused by an employee’s mistake or negligence. So, don’t discount the value of training (beyond the annual compliance brief) just because it seems too easy.

• A second preventative mitigation is to ensure that all your computers (and servers if you have them) are still supported by the vendor with security patches. For computers in particular, Windows 8.1 support ended in January 2023, and therefore these computers are now a risk to your organisation.

For more mitigations, I developed a FREE Cybersecurity Risk Quiz to help you identify other common risks. It’s only 11 multiple-choice questions, and you’ll get your results immediately.

And if you need additional help reviewing your current risks or prioritising IT investments to mitigate them, please get in touch.

Tammy Ven Dange of Roundbox Consulting is a former charity CEO, Not for Profit Board Member and IT Executive. Today she helps Not for Profits with IT investment decisions as an independent consultant.