Christopher McNaughton, Author at SECMON1

Understanding the Australian economy through the lens of underwear and lipstick sales

Published on December 11th, 2023 12:04PM by Christopher McNaughton

In an intriguing development, recent trends in Australia’s retail sector—namely, a decline in men’s underwear sales and an uptick in lipstick sales—are offering nuanced insights into the state of the national economy. These unconventional economic indicators, while seemingly trivial at first glance, are proving to be revealing barometers of broader economic trends and consumer sentiment. […]

New fraud costing Australian business millions annually

Published on March 17th, 2021 09:52AM by Christopher McNaughton

If you work in the Finance Department of your company your email account might already have been hacked in a new scam costing Australian business millions every year A new type of fraud, often originating offshore, involving the takeover of Finance Department staff’s email accounts, is impacting large and small businesses all over Australia. […]

INFORMATION THEFT – THE EMPLOYEE RISK

Published on August 3rd, 2020 11:40AM by Christopher McNaughton

Information Theft – What is the Risk? Our research has shown that around 68% of employees will steal information from their employer. This figure jumps to 87% for exiting employees. Running any business mean providing our employees access to sensitive information, but we need to be mindful that access to information comes with a […]

Don’t Become a Victim of Cyber Crime

Published on July 16th, 2020 11:34AM by Christopher McNaughton

The Impacts of a Cyber Attack In your personal life and as an employee, there are many aspects to consider when it comes to the use of devices (e.g. smartphones, tablets, computers and laptops). E.g. compromises of devices and the information they store can have significant productivity, financial impacts to your business as well […]

YOUR COMPANY HAS BEEN BREACHED!

Published on May 27th, 2020 02:31PM by Christopher McNaughton

The Data Governance Watershed “You’ve been breached!” These are words none of us want to hear, but the situation is almost inevitable. When the breach does occur, will your data governance structure help to protect you? Many organisations are at a data governance watershed, somewhere between having systems and processes in place and actually being […]

#case study
#cyber attack
#cyberattack
#Information Security
#Office 365

CASE STUDY – OFFICE 365 BREACH

Published on April 14th, 2020 12:22PM by Christopher McNaughton

CASE STUDY (5 Min read) The following case study details a case where SECMON1 was engaged to conduct a security review of an organisation’s O365 environment. The organisation had received some information from clients which caused them to suspect they had been breached. It was clear from the outset that a breach had occurred. A […]

#Information Security
#Office 365

Office 365 Under Increased Attack

Published on April 7th, 2020 04:28PM by Christopher McNaughton

The recent increase in employees working remotely, combined with the migration to platforms such as Microsoft Office 365, has seen a dramatic increase in security incidents. The main reasons for these are typically poor implementations and lack of visibility of activity. Microsoft Office 365 is highly targeted due to its wide popularity and the often […]

#covid-19
#PASSWORD
#remoteworker
#VPN
#WIFI
#workingremotely

LARGE INCREASE IN COVID-19 THEMED MALICIOUS CYBER ACTIVITY

Published on April 6th, 2020 01:33PM by Christopher McNaughton

How to protect your self when working remotely There have been many reports of an increase in cyber-attacks on remote workers by up to 400%. We need to do all we can to protect ourselves, our company data and our personal data at the moment. There are some relatively simple things we should do to […]

#application patching
#Information Security
#patching

Application Patching – Information Security Essentials

Published on April 1st, 2020 07:21PM by Christopher McNaughton

Application Patching Application patching refers to applying updates to software applications. It is absolutely critical for ensuring system security and must be done as soon as practicable. Time is key with patching: it is ideal to apply patches within 48 hours of release from the relevant software provider or vendor. When installing new applications, always […]

#Information Security
#macro
#macro settings

Configuring Macro Settings – Information Security Essentials

Published on April 1st, 2020 07:20PM by Christopher McNaughton

Configuring Macro Settings Disabling or limiting Microsoft Office macros can aid in preventing malicious code from entering your organisation’s network. Compromised macros can often evade basic email content filtering and application whitelisting. While macros can greatly improve productivity, they can also make your systems vulnerable, especially if they are out-of-date or downloaded from the Internet. […]

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