Why must all businesses take

Cybersecurity seriously? – P1
Case Study: Singtel Optus Pty Limited

@mr
Researched and written by @mr

B B for Business | amr webbox - manufacturing the words… @mr

Why must all businesses take cybersecurity seriously? – P1
Case Study: Singtel Optus Pty Limited
Published at: amrwebbox.com

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Disclaimer: In this article and its upcoming parts, as a writer I
do not/will give any opinion about Singtel Optus Pty Limited.
I am/will be just sharing facts based on the secondary
research from authentic and recognised sources only and
doing/will be doing unbiased analysis.
Few days back I was running on a treadmill and saw an alert from
a recognized news channel on my smart watch at 7 PM. It was
related to Optus Data breach. After completing my workout, I
read the news issued by the different news channels. As of today,
the following are the headlines covered by the different news
media groups:
Anna was ready to buy her first home - but then her details
were leaked in the Optus data breach and everything changed
– ABC News (Australia)

Optus reveals at least 2.1 million ID numbers exposed in

massive data breach – The Guardian

Government strengthens powers for telcos to share affected

data following Optus hack – ABC News (Australia)
Optus Under $1 Million Extortion Threat in Data Breach –
Bankinfosecurity.com
…
What is Cybersecurity?
Cybersecurity refers to measures taken to protect Internet-
connected devices, networks, and data from unauthorized access
and criminal use. Additionally, cybersecurity ensures the
confidentiality, integrity, and availability of data over its entire life
cycle.
Cybersecurity applies to both software and hardware, as well as
information on the Internet. It can protect everything from
personal information to complex government systems.
(Source: Investopedia.com)
The question is why must all businesses take cybersecurity
seriously?
No.1 Reputational risk
We are living in a high-tech world and day by day our reliance on
technology is increasing. We rely on phones, laptops, and other
gadgets for the most of our daily tasks. For example, banking
transactions, daily purchases, emails, using public transport, use of
e-hailing services, our identity cards, debit/credit cards, ETA of
travel using car/bike, phone calls, and messages, etc. We do most
of the things on our smartphones or laptops. From IT perspective,
there is “transmission of data” between devices when we do a task
using network connected devices. It is implied that without
internet none of the tasks are possible these days.
It is a fact without customers there is no business. If there is a
business, there are customers. When customers interact with
different businesses, they have to share their basic identity details
for example, name, phone number, email address, etc. Most of the
businesses are operating at mass level and are regulated, they
would need identity details and to verify these they would need to
retain copy of ID documents or details on their database such as
identity numbers, including confidential nature information.
Oh! What is the issue, it is just a name, phone number, identify
document number?
You are forgetting it is your ID and same details are also linked to
your bank accounts, and, different “investment venues” where you
park your money.
If a hacker gets an access to your information which you provided
to a business, he/she/it (robot) might try to play with your
MONEY! It is just a matter of an access to your bank or investment
account, etc.
When a customer shares any details, especially confidential nature
information there is an expectation that a business will take
necessary measures to protect those details.
In a nutshell, a customer might lose trust in a business if their
identity or confidential nature information gets leaked out. It can
easily impact reputation of a business.
No.2 Profit and sales numbers energy might get low
When reputation risk arises, it can easily affect a business primary
objective of profit maximization. Customers around the world
have high expectations from businesses they deal with and if
something goes wrong with it, it can easily impact the whole
business. Customer expectation is a “sensitive” matter.
We live in a world where stories are cooked up in seconds and on
top of that exaggeration takes place. It means sales of a
product/services made/offered by a business can easily be
affected.
No.3 Strict compliance requirements from a regulator
The relevant regulator might bring out more strict compliance
requirements for all businesses in an industry to avoid any data or
cyber security breach. It would increase cost for any business to
meet regulatory requirements but at the same time it would also
protect a business from any mishap.
No.4 Legal consequences
If any business does not take necessary measures for avoiding
data breach or cybersecurity issues, it might face potential legal
consequences from the affected customers or the relevant parties.
No.5 Impact on customers
If a business faces data breach, it might impact its customers.
They might need to get new identity documents, it might affect
their transactions with financial institutions, their bank account
details or email accounts, etc. might be hacked. Customers can
have impact in different ways and in these circumstances, they
would retain bad impression of the business that caused it.
No. 6 Any business might lose operating license from a
regulator
If a cybersecurity breach occurs due a business own negligence, it
might lose license to operate it and at the end of day it might
bring its existence in the market to an end.
Alex: What should a business do to avoid the risk of cybersecurity
and how Optus responded and is responding to tackle data
breach?
@mr: Stay tuned for Part 2

B @mr
H09102022