Recently FTMA Members received an email from a company claiming we had shared our 2018 Marketing Database with them and offering a range of shonky services.
Firstly, FTMA Australia does not share it’s database with anyone including sponsors, however, members are listed on the website to ensure maximum exposure for your business to builders.
Our tech team got on to this straight away and installed the WordFence plugin on the website which has set up a firewall and protects the site, it will block people from the site if they try to login with the incorrect username and password after 6 attempts. It will block them for 4 hours. It also does a scan periodically of the whole site to check for any hacked file etc.
A full scan of the site was done and it is clean of spam bots and hopefully this will prevent future spam attacks.
What To Do When You Receive Spam?
It is important that members do not respond to spam emails in anyway, that includes clicking on the unsubscribe link as this lets the spammers know they have sent an email to a legitimate email account.
If your are using Microsoft Outlook you can click in the tool bar “Junk”=> “Block Sender” which will stop any new spam emails from that sender from coming through to their inbox and will send it straight to their junk folder which you can then just empty.
Cyber Attacks Can Be Costly
Cyber Crime has overtaken the drug trade as the most profitable form of crime and SME’s are a key target with over 40% of all SME’s experience attacks.
The Australian Government through their online Business website https://www.business.gov.au/info/run/cyber-security explains that Cybercrime in Australia is a growing threat and is becoming an attractive way for criminals to steal information, money or disrupt business.
As the internet becomes easier to access, and we share and collect more information and data online, you need to ensure security measures are in place. For many businesses, this includes the data your business creates and stores, plus the information your customers share. Providing a secure setting is critical in building and maintaining confidence and trust in your business.
It is important to ensure security measures are in place that not only prevent cyber attacks but cover you if your company is breached. It’s no longer a matter of keeping them out but minimising the damage and cost.
We encourage members to contact our Silver Sponsors AB Phillips to discuss Cyber Insurance that covers you for:
- Hacker damage / breach costs
- Business Interruption
- Cyber Extortion & fraud
- Third Party costs
For further information please view the following presentation by AB Phillips.