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Is NZ Vulnerable To Cyber-Attacks? And What Does That Mean To You?

In 2019, hackers infiltrated Texas local body government computer systems. They seized control, blocked access to vital data, and demanded a huge ransom. Is NZ vulnerable to similar attacks?

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Security is a major business objective

In 2019, hackers infiltrated Texas’s local body government computer systems. They seized control, blocked access to vital data, and demanded a huge ransom. Is NZ vulnerable to similar attacks?

The Texas government learned from the $10 million Baltimore disaster and paid out the $2.5 million ransom demand quickly, regained control, and patched the leak. But they didn’t learn their lesson and in 2020 hacked again, using ransomware that invaded computers and encrypted files in the transportation department.

Closer to home, Australia has been facing increased cyber attacks from overseas. Malicious attacks from sophisticated entities targeted a range of Australian sectors, both private and government. This has resulted in increased controls and defenses against attackers.

1. Why worry about cyber-attacks?

Cyber attacks are dangerous in a range of ways:

  • Release of private, personal, or confidential information. This is a risk for all organizations- businesses having customer details shared, or sensitive financial information. For governments, the risk of almost anything going public is enormous.
  • I am holding computer systems hostage. This means no access to information, and the possibility of data being destroyed.
  • Misuse of computer systems. This is hugely worrying; traffic light controls, operating power plants, and almost anything that can be controlled remotely can also be taken over and used maliciously.
  • Loss of money. The goal for some hackers is income from extortion. Also, businesses may lose money- and trust- from their users.

Should You Be Afraid of 5G Its Top Security Threats Revealed

These threats aren’t just from a hacker in a darkened bedroom somewhere either; business competitors, state threats, and organizations such as Anonymous all have various aims or goals. If you want to Protect from cyber-attacks use any of the antivirus software of these two Mcafee vs avast.

2. Does this matter to you?

As an individual, a business owner, or a citizen, this is a threat that you should be worried about. Not just for your data’s privacy, your business’s compliance with GRC and security, or to stay safe in an increasingly digital Tech world, but for the safety of your country.

While security affects your workplace, your ability to work securely from home, and the ramifications from that, there are also other much broader implications.

3. What is NZ doing about cybersecurity?

Eight years as Prime Minister, Sir John said his roles on the board of the cybersecurity company Palo Alto Networks & as the chairperson of ANZ Bank New Zealand, had given him insights into the escalating threats New Zealand businesses face.

“Individuals, companies, governments they play by the rules,” said Sir John, who spoke alongside Microsoft Managing Director, Vanessa Sorenson, at the launch of Umbrellar Connect.

Everyone, from individuals to the state, needs to keep their systems safe from cybercrime.

Individuals: Consider having a password system such as LastPass, which allows you to securely store passwords, create complex random passwords, and detect if passwords are too weak. This means your log-ins are far more secure and less likely to be hacked.

Have a tricky password for your Wi-Fi (not 12345678 or ‘password123’). Also, think about your IoT, and all digital-enabled items in your home need to be protected. A smart refrigerator was hacked in 2014 and used to send spam – all smart devices run this risk.

Website Security Tips

If you work from home and have secure access to your employer’s computer system, ensure you follow all best practices. Don’t log on in insecure connections, don’t share your password, and don’t leave your laptop unattended.

Businesses and governments: You need to invest time and money into your cybersecurity. Hire specialists that can help you pinpoint where your weaknesses are and then plug the gaps. As well as a robust system for passwords and staff, there are technical things to investigate, such as firewalls.

One of your most significant weaknesses is your staff- training them to identify cyber threats and manage them. McAfee estimates over 100 billion malicious scans each day and thousands of phishing and ransomware attacks. This is not IF, this is WHEN.

Regular system maintenance and keeping up to date with the latest threats are vital. Scammers and hackers move fast and will exploit all gaps in processes, software, and hardware. While hiring professionals to manage this may seem expensive, they will find security vulnerabilities.

The cost of not doing this should be losing everything.

Encrypting and backing up are excellent means of defense. Backing up, off-site, securely, is not just a must in case of physical disaster where your business cannot access the location, but also a safety net in case systems are hacked. If you have a backup of everything, hackers refusing to obtain your order are less catastrophic.

Also, encrypting information, running things through VPNs, and multiple security layers make a hacker’s job much more difficult.

If cyber threats aren’t taken seriously, there could be some extremely unpleasant and unexpected consequences. All online systems are vulnerable, and keeping them safe should be a priority for businesses, individuals, and governments.

Finally, listen to what others say. Zoom suffered an embarrassing and challenging setback when a social media influencer hacker found several weaknesses in their software and then Tweeted about it.

This spawned a string of security incidents with an in-demand service at the global pandemic height when more companies were moving their operations online. Governments have also been warned in the past about possible security flaws, only for further breaches to be made.

Think about it now, before it is too late. If you’re unsure, ask Garmin, which was hacked in July 2020, and resulted in global outages, runners, and cyclists who can’t track their training, and ongoing problems.

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Business

Transforming Goals into Actionable Results

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Transforming Goals into Actionable Results - Planning Template

Organizations universally set goals and strategic plans each year, aiming to grow revenue, increase efficiency, or launch innovative offerings. Leadership teams devote extensive energy to developing future visions, five-year horizons, and stretched objectives to motivate their workforce.

But the hard truth remains: lofty ambitions alone rarely catalyze actual change. For transformational plans to spark tangible impacts, organizations must bridge the gap between theoretical strategy and on-the-ground execution.

1. The Planning Disconnect

Many goal-setting approaches prioritize inspiration over implementation. Leadership defines desires for the future: – become a $1 billion revenue company, penetrate emerging markets, and transform customer experiences through AI. Such ‘aim-big’ mindsets spark energy and provide directional guidance amid uncertainty.

However, most planning exercises fail to detail the nitty-gritty work required to achieve audacious results on the ground. People walk out of annual meetings jazzed about the future but without playbooks for activating it day-to-day. Vague aspirations then struggle to be converted into economic value.

2. Finding the Right Strategy

An OKR planning template offers one methodology to overcome this strategy/execution divide. OKRs, or Objectives and Key Results, provide a template to cascade high-level goals into measurable, actionable metrics at every organizational level. This connects future milestones with present-moment decision-making, ensuring teams work synergistically towards overarching ambitions. With a strong goal architecture in place, inspiration more seamlessly fuels activation.

3. Why Actionability Matters

Transforming lofty aspirations into step-by-step execution plans brings several advantages:

  • Alignment: With clear OKRs spanning functions, teams can coordinate priorities, resources, and timelines effectively. This fosters organization-wide momentum versus siloed efforts.
  • Motivation:Breaking ambitious objectives into bite-sized key results is less daunting for individuals. Granular metrics maintain motivation amid long horizons.
  • Focus: Concrete next steps prevent distraction from organizational shiny objects that capture attention yet deliver little value.
  • Accountability: Quantifiable measures allow all stakeholders, from frontline individuals to CEOs, to track progress and course-correct in real-time if lagging.

With a strong goal architecture in place, inspiration more seamlessly fuels activation. But we still must apply rigorous execution principles—communication, tracking, agility, and celebration—to generate the hoped-for results.

4. Driving Change in Complex Systems

Large enterprises are multifaceted systems, with interdependent elements spanning processes, technology, and people. This complexity makes driving macro-level outcomes uniquely challenging. As legendary management thinker Peter Drucker noted, “There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.”

Turning broad organizational change into economic returns requires carefully targeting the vital few interventions that catalyze outsized results. OKRs help leaders thoughtfully assess and sequence the projects that will structurally reinvent operations, remove friction from value chains, and upgrade talent capabilities over time. With clear transformations roadmaps in place, big goals become more grounded amid real-world constraints.

5. Sustaining the Journey

Finally, cascading OKRs across the hierarchy sustains strategic focus as leaders come and go. They provide continuity through inevitable ebbs and flows in the volatile, uncertain business climate. With institutionalized processes for regularly resetting, communicating, and reviewing objectives and key results, organizations stay centered on the handful of big bets that matter most while retaining the flexibility to evolve tactics as needed.

Annual goal setting is table stakes for contemporary organizations. But without concerted efforts to turn those goals into measurable action plans, little changes amid organizational complexity.

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