Small businesses are being warned to watch out for ‘bad eggs’ during the Easter period as COSBOA’s Cyber Wardens program is raising awareness of increased risks often disguised in ‘shiny packaging’.
The campaign comes as a new survey commissioned by CommBank shows that 84 per cent of small to medium business owners and senior managers are either taking action to protect their business from scams or planning to do so, after 36 per cent have reported having experienced a scam at least once since starting their business.
According to the survey, the steps SMEs have taken to combat scams include checking bank accounts and invoices more regularly and thoroughly (58 per cent), upgrading software (50 per cent), providing additional training for staff (30 per cent) and engaging third-party suppliers such as security consultants (25 per cent).
CommBank Executive General Manager Small Business Banking, Rebecca Warren, said it’s encouraging to see more businesses take steps to protect themselves against scams.
“We know running a small business involves wearing many hats, and it often means you’re incredibly busy with not much time to spare. As a result, business owners may be less likely to spot some of the red flags, which can make them vulnerable to scams,” Warren said.
Warren reminded that there is often a spike in scam events during busy holiday periods, calling for extra caution during the upcoming Easter break. SMEs are urged to be in the lookout in particular to business email compromise scams which involve obtaining unauthorised access to an email account to intercept and redirect payment requests.
“While we have seen a 70 per cent reduction in customer scam losses across the bank over the past two years, scammers recognise business owners or key staff are often on holiday at this time of year and this affords them more opportunity combined with less chance of being caught,” she said.
With scammers now leveraging AI to create highly sophisticated and convincing communications, making it even harder to identify fraudulent activity, Warren said it is more crucial than ever to upskill on cyber safety and scams awareness.
To help protect small businesses from the rising threat of AI scams, Cyber Wardens is launching a new course offering, Safe AI for Small Business, later this month.
“Cyber attacks on small businesses can cause devastating financial loss and personal distress for owners, employees and customers. That’s why the Cyber Wardens program for owners and employees is such an important initiative,” said COSBOA CEO Luke Achterstraat.
“The more business owners and their staff are aware of the risks, the more likely they’ll be able to spot red flags. People truly are the first line of defence, and it’s encouraging to see scams protection is top of mind for so many business owners,” Warren said. “Awareness, combined with robust processes and technology, will significantly reduce risk for hard-working Aussie small business owners.”
