With threats growing in sophistication, protecting your organisations data isn’t just an IT issue, it’s a governance issue. So, how can boards and senior leaders ensure they’re safeguarding what matters most?

Ways to protect your organisations digital assets:

1. Make security a leadership priority

Security starts at the top. When leaders take security seriously, the entire organisation follows. 

This means:

• Embedding security into governance processes, making it a regular boardroom agenda item.
• Ensuring directors and executives model secure behaviours, from password hygiene to device usage. 
• Championing a culture where security is everyone’s responsibility, not just IT’s.

Boards must ask the right questions: Are we using secure platforms for board communications? How are we managing access to sensitive documents? Are we prepared for a cyber incident?

2. Education and regular training

Even with the best tools, human error remains one of the biggest security threats. 

A survey found that 95% of cybersecurity issues have some human element.

Ongoing education ensures everyone understands their role in protecting data.

• Regular training for board members and staff on topics like phishing, password management and secure collaboration. Learn more about other cybersecurity trends here.
• Clear policies and guidelines on how sensitive information should be shared and stored.
• Simulated cyber exercises to test readiness and response plans.

A well-informed team is your first line of defence.

3. Use secure board management tools

Many boards still share confidential documents over email or store them in unprotected folders, a risky practice that exposes organisations to breaches. 

The right board management software, like Stellar can: 

• Fully encrypt sensitive documents and communications 
• Access control to ensure only authorised team members can view specific files 
• Track document activity for transparency and accountability 

Learn more about Stellar’s different packages here: https://bit.ly/4i7QAyn

Choosing secure tools designed for governance is a simple but powerful step to reduce risk.

4. Prepare for the worst and plan for recovery

Despite best efforts, breaches can happen. What matters is how prepared you are:

• Have an incident response plan that includes leadership and board roles.
• Regularly review and update cybersecurity policies and procedures.
• Ensure your board knows the protocol for responding to breaches, including regulatory notifications and stakeholder communications.

Statistica research found that as of 2024, the mean number of days to identify the data breaches was 194 days.

Being proactive and prepared can significantly reduce the impact of a security incident.

Final thoughts on protecting your organisation’s digital assets

In a time when data is one of an organisation’s most valuable assets, boards must lead the way by protecting it. With cyber threats growing in sophistication, protecting sensitive information is no longer just an IT issue. Boards and leaders must take an active role in safeguarding digital assets by making security a leadership focus, educating their teams, using secure board management tools like Stellar and preparing for potential breaches. Building a security-first culture from the top down is essential to protecting both your data and your organisation’s reputation.

Want to see how Stellar can help protect your board’s data? Book a free demo here.

The post Cybersecurity for boards: how to protect your organisation’s digital assets appeared first on StellarLibrary.

It’s amazing just how quickly ‘the new normal’ has become…well, normal.

Go back twelve months and ask any industry expert for their insights headed into the year, and it’s unlikely any of them could have predicted this. Sure, working remotely is nothing new. It’s been growing in popularity for years. Yet even we couldn’t have seen this kind of monumental, rapid change coming.

As we’ve discussed in recent months, the shift in how the world works has changed the way we all work. Organisations, enterprises, and board rooms have had to adapt to remote working on short notice. Digital solutions are now the norm. Cybersecurity risks are on the rise, as are data breaches as a result.

It’s a tough world out there at the moment…

…but it’s what’s happening within the four walls most of us find ourselves working within that may be putting your organisation, its data, and its documents most at risk.

The security risks are coming from inside the house

A rushed response has left massive security gaps in organisations across the globe.

As Charlie Osborne reported over at ZDNet in her article “Working from home causes surge in security breaches, staff ‘oblivious’ to best practices” published in late August, a recent report from Malwarebytes highlights just how much of a security issue working remotely has become:

“…since the start of the pandemic, remote workers have caused a security breach in 20% of organizations.”

That’s not all. Malwarebytes also found that 24% of organisations have had to pay unexpected costs to address cybersecurity breaches or malware infections, while 5% stated that their staff were “oblivious” to best security practices.

Cybersecurity may conjure images of dimly lit rooms, nefarious websites, and shady individuals hacking network mainframes with not one but two keyboards, but the reality is much simpler: one of today’s biggest threats to your organization’s cybersecurity is…you and your home working environment.

In the last few months alone, basic human errors and preventable mistakes have led to data breaches that have made international headlines. Australia’s iTNews recently reported that “Tens of thousands of scanned NSW driver’s licenses and completed tolling notice statutory declarations were left exposed on an open Amazon Web Services storage instance…“.

Elsewhere, The Guardian highlights a hack of Service NSW that “…led to the theft of more than 500,000 documents containing personal information relating to 186,000 people…” could have been prevented by simply enabling multi-factor authentication.

The question is, how do you avoid becoming the next headline?

Securing your remote working environments is as simple as…

The new normal is the new normal for a reason: it isn’t going anywhere, anytime soon.

As the dust begins to settle on a year we’d all likely rather forget, it’s vital that your organisation takes action to ensure it’s able to operate securely in this new environment now and into the future. Here’s how:

• Review your organisation’s data protection, security plan, and remote working policies to ensure they’re up-to-date and relevant for today’s environment.
• Secure home and / or remote WiFi networks with strong passwords and ensure the network isn’t being shared by other devices or users.
• Avoid sending sensitive information or data to private or personal email accounts, computers, or devices as they tend to be far less secure.
• Where possible, only use work-issued devices that have been prepared by your IT team.
• Ensure staff are up-to-speed with the latest security threats such as phishing scams or malware.
• Limit employees’ remote access to only the data they need to carry out their jobs, which is simply to do with management and distribution software such as Stellar.

The post Working Remotely: How To Secure The Work-From-Home Environment appeared first on StellarLibrary.

As COVID-19 case numbers continue to surge in countries across the globe, recent reports suggest the business world is seeing a similarly sharp rise in the number of data breaches, hacks, and cyber attacks.

A recent study conducted by Atlasvpn found that large-scale data breaches increased by a massive 273% between January and March this year when compared with the same period last year. Over 8.4 billion documents were leaked over the course of just three months.

The problem is, that number is still rising.

Confusion leads to cybersecurity chaos

Looking back, it’s easy to see why.

Cybercriminals have capitalized on the ensuing chaos caused by the emergence of COVID-19, and the resulting – and sudden – shift to the largely uncharted territory of mass remote working initiatives.

More people than ever before are working remotely. In many cases they’re also operating in an unsecured home environment, over a public network, using personal devices and consumer grade software solutions that may not boast the security required to keep data safe.

Where security experts see the countless flaws in this setup, cyber criminals see opportunities.

It just so happens many New Zealand organisations just…don’t see a problem.

Complacency is a (data) killer

Confusion may have sparked this cybersecurity fire, but it’s complacency that’s fueling it.

Only 22% of Kiwis are worried about a security breach while working remotely. That’s according to new research just released by Unisys. Statistics like these are great news opportunistic cyber attackers, hackers, and unscrupulous third parties.

It’s complacency that has resulted in such a staggering increase in cyber attacks in the wake of COVID-19. VMware reports Ransomware attacks are up 90%. Destructive attacks, up 102%. Island Hopping? Up 33%.

Boards. Businesses. Nonprofits. Even the Healthcare industry isn’t immune. The U.S Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has reported a 50% increase in data breaches between February and May. Meanwhile the World Health Organisation (WHO) reports a five-fold increase in cyber attacks.

Related Articles:

• Equip your team to face the challenges of a fast-changing world. Find out how.
• Keep your sales and marketing teams on the same page. It’s easy with these tips.

Cyber attacks are nothing new. Neither is working remotely. We should know! As a collaborative platform provider from one of the remotest corners of the globe we’ve been helping organisations connect, collaborate, and distribute across the world for years.

What is new is the sheer volume of people from CEOs and CIOs through to secretaries and staff who now find themselves working remotely on short notice. Including many who up until recently may have still laughed off the idea of ever going digital. Such is the appeal of paper, it seems!

The result is cybersecurity chaos. Security shortcuts. Off-the-shelf software solutions. Unsecure network connections. In the past a personal data breach may have been limited to someone losing access to their Facebook account or files in a corrupted folder.

It’s a scarier proposition when you consider they’re now using these devices to access confidential data, information, and documents. It’s putting your organisation’s data and its long-term survivability at risk.

Secure your organisation’s future, simply

If you’re yet to take stock of remote working setups, now’s the time to do so.

Data breaches can prove costly. Shannon Williams from bizEDGE writes that:

“Using a conservative downtime cost of US$10,000 a day, it is estimated that ransomware attacks have cost New Zealand organisations US$25.9m this year.”

Staying secure in this uncertain era involves new policies, procedures, and secure digital solutions. Now is the perfect time to take a deep breath and take stock of your organisation’s setup to ensure you’re taking a methodical approach that puts security first.

Review procedures around personal devices, keep staff up-to-date on the latest security threats, and consider switching to a secure platform that allows teams to create, collaborate, and share documents while administrators retain control and visibility to ensure peace of mind in these uncertain times.

The post Data Breaches Soar 273% In The Wake Of COVID-19. Here’s How To Stay Secure appeared first on StellarLibrary.

If there was ever any lingering doubt…

…this year has highlighted that the idea of a ‘typical’ workplace is well and truly a thing of the past. 42% of the United State’s labour force is now working from home. 49% of UK employees say they’ve worked remotely in the last 7 days. While 89% of Kiwis suggest they’d like to keep it that way.

This sudden, monumental shift in the way things are done hasn’t been without its challenges. It now rests with CEOs, CIOs, and management teams to lead the way in facilitating change if organisations have any hope of continuing to operate in this new, digitally-reliant environment.

The trouble is, it’s often easier said than done.

Are your staff keeping pace with a changing world?

The way we do things is always changing.

Yet the pace at which things have changed in recent months took many by surprise.

While change may be perpetual, few organisations were equipped to embrace it. Why? Some have dragged their heels. Others have been resistant to change. This comes despite the fact that digital transformation has continued to rank high on the list of management priorities in leading surveys for years.

Whatever the reason, legacy systems, outdated technology, and old workplace practices now stand in the way of change. Managing an increasingly disconnected, global workforce in an increasingly digital, connected world without the right tools is an impossible challenge.

Holistic workforce management is only possible when everyone is moving in the same direction, which is difficult when you lack visibility, control, and effective communication across your teams.

Organisations now risk stagnation and a disengaged workforce that will inevitably snowball into decreased productivity, high staff turnover, and a loss in business turnover at a time when most are already staring down the potential for an economic downturn.

Transformational change doesn’t need to be costly

Effective workforce transformation sits at the heart of what’s required for organisations and businesses of all shapes and sizes – from corporations and enterprises to SMEs and nonprofits – to find long-term success and survivability in this new era.

Equipping your teams with the training and tools they require to do their jobs effectively encourages engagement, boosts morale, and shows them a future for growth while your organisation benefits from the productivity, operational efficiencies, and cost savings of a connected, engaged workforce.

There are a few key components that make this kind of change possible:

• The leading barrier to the adoption of new technology is fear and uncertainty, so facilitate change with sufficient training and resources for all of your staff.
• Staff members can’t face the challenges of tomorrow with the tools of yesterday, so ensure they’re equipped with the right technology and software solutions including laptops, mobiles, or tablets.
• A digitally connected workforce isn’t automatically a well-informed one, so keep your teams on the same page by facilitating effective communication.
• A shift in operating environments and an uptick in remote working has seen an increase in potential cybersecurity threats which could halt transformation in its tracks, so keep your staff informed.
• Consider the potential for increased flexibility in working requirements if team members are keen to continue to work remotely or from home whether full or part-time.
• Facilitate effective workforce transformation with the visibility and clarity you require to do so with a cost-effective management platform that provides instant access to all communications, actions, and outcomes no matter where staff are working.

The post Workforce Transformation: Equipping Your Team For The New Era appeared first on StellarLibrary.

As if things weren’t already difficult enough, cyberattacks are on the rise.

In today’s strange new world, the home office has become the new work office. With a recent Gallup poll showing 62% of Americans working from home during the crisis – a number that doubled since mid-March – the change has been rapid, and not without its challenges.

Board members, staff, and employees the world over are now connecting to corporate and enterprise infrastructure via home devices, on home networks, in a home environment. The fallout has left organisations scrambling to secure these new remote working setups while ensuring business continuity.

Where security teams see vulnerabilities, cyber criminals see opportunities.

46% of businesses have suffered a cybersecurity incident during COVID-19

A recent study by IT security firm Barracuda Networks found 46% of respondents had experienced at least one security incident since the COVID-19 lockdown began, while 49% anticipated a data breach or similar cybersecurity incident within the next month.

Cybercriminals are keenly aware that cracks are emerging from the pressure, and they’re taking advantage of them. Take something as simple as a phishing email, for example. Stressed staff are far less likely to double check the ‘From:’ field on an email before opening it, inspect a link before clicking on it, or question an email attachment before opening it.

Identifying and rectifying these issues doesn’t just fall to staff. In many cases, security issues have been exacerbated by the shift to convenient, band-aid fixes that bypass policies and procedures put in place to keep data, documents, and sensitive information safe.

You may still be operating, but at what cost to your sensitive information and data?

Work from home’s most pressing security threats

You don’t need to be yet another cybersecurity statistic.

Knowledge is power, so here are some of the most pressing threats you need to know about:

• Sophisticated phishing email scams related to COVID-19 providing fake business updates from the CDC and World Health Organisation (WHO), offers of free vaccinations, as well as donation scams.
• Fake Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet invite emails containing links that instead download malware to the user’s device, which is then able to access sensitive data and documents.
• Attackers targeting inherent security flaws in personal devices and networks used in a home working environment including mobiles, tablets, and laptops which may already be affected by malware or viruses.
• Staff using personal email addresses, messenger apps, and personal cloud storage accounts like Dropbox or Google Drive because it’s ‘easier’ and ‘quicker’.

Regain clarity and control across your remote-working environment

This new normal is known as the ‘new normal’ for a reason: it isn’t going anywhere, anytime soon.

Recent increases in cybersecurity incidents are a clear sign that organisations like yours desperately require a long-term solution that will allow you to secure your new remote working setup while ensuring business continuity.

Achieving this clarity, control, and security is as easy if you:

• Educate staff on the warning signs of potential threats including phishing scams and malware.
• Only use trusted WiFi networks, and enable two-factor authentication on applicable accounts.
• Ask that staff use unique passwords for any new digital work accounts so they’re not shared with personal accounts that may be more susceptible to a breach such as social media.
• Limit the use of personal devices where possible, and instead supply staff with dedicated work devices that have been properly secured.
• Ensure software and firmware updates are installed to avoid known security flaws, and that anti-virus software, firewalls, and virtual private networks (VPNs) are set up as and where required.
• Transition to a comprehensive, secure business platform such as Stellar. Stellar’s unique advanced encryption technology combats modern day security risks, so staff are able to securely access important documents, data, and information no matter where they are or the device they’re using.

The post Cybersecurity & Remote Working: Tackling 2020’s Emerging Security Risks appeared first on StellarLibrary.

Few working relationships are as closely tied as sales and marketing.

Whether back at the office, on the shop floor, or giving a presentation to a prospective client two cities over, sales and marketing teams rely on one another to achieve success. They’re agile. They’re reactive. They’re also able to make adjustments on the fly with access to the latest facts, figures, and data…

…or, so they should. Achieving effective communication between your teams and clarity across materials is difficult on any given day. Throw in a global pandemic, a shift in operations, and the pressure of survivability relying on meeting sales goals, and it’s little wonder staying on the same page is tough.

Clarity? It isn’t always guaranteed

In a perfect world, your marketing and sales teams would operate in perfect harmony.

If you’ve been around as long as we have, you’ll know reality is rarely so kind. Most modern organisations, enterprises, nonprofits, and even boards are a mess of moving pieces. The more pieces in play, the more likely they are to come tumbling down at the slightest hiccup. The flow-on effect can be devastating.

The relationship between sales and marketing is cyclical. It’s an important yet fragile relationship. Marketing teams invest time and money developing the message, but it isn’t created in a vacuum.

Sales teams and their first-hand experience inform these decisions. How effective is the material when delivered to potential clients? What about their reactions to pricing, or packages?

Sales teams are just as reliant on marketing, requiring instant access to the most up-to-date material, pricing, and presentations in order to do their jobs effectively. It’s a difficult thing to do when emails are left sitting unread in inboxes, important updates go missing, or outdated material persists on devices lacking vital updates that should have been pushed out company-wide.

Long-term survivability relies on effective sales and marketing

Making and closing sales is a tough gig. It involves putting your best foot forward. If your teams can’t tell their left from right or, in this case, their latest version from an outdated draft, then you’re setting them up for failure. It’s as simple as that.

As we’ve explored in the past, breakdowns in visibility and communication aren’t uncommon. They can happen anywhere, at any time. Yet it’s often during times of crisis that these issues are thrown into stark relief, affecting visibility and robbing your organisation of control when it needs it the most.

How are you meant to operate with confidence if you can’t be sure whether sales teams have access to the latest messaging and material? Or that your marketing team is making informed decisions without the latest facts or figures?

Now more than ever, effective management of your teams is vital to long-term survival.

Managing your teams, made easy

We’ve learned a lot over the years in managing our own teams here at Stellar. Our greatest successes have always come about when we’ve been able to combine the right people with the right technology in order to ensure they have the clarity, control, and visibility to do their jobs effectively.

Here’s what we’ve learned:

• Increase visibility and communication through regular catch-ups, scheduled meetings, and follow-ups. If something isn’t clear? Ask!
• Clearly label updated revisions so that it’s easy to see at a glance which version is the most current.
• Regularly “clear house” to ensure outdated documents, information, and marketing material is removed from repositories to avoid any potential for confusion.
• Avoid splitting communications across multiple, haphazard distribution channels like Dropbox, email, and physical paper copies. The more channels you use, the more likely it is that something will be missed or forgotten.
• Consolidate your information, instructions, and resources into one easy-to-manage business platform to ensure instant, secure access to everything your teams need no matter where they are or what device they’re using.

The post Keeping Sales & Marketing Teams On The Same Page appeared first on StellarLibrary.

In the space of a few weeks, the world feels as though it’s shifted on its axis.

The business world has followed suit, leaving boards, management, and staff shocked and reeling at the pace of change. In light of recent events, there’s been a paradigm shift in the way the world does business.

Understandably, this change is presenting challenges. The world now demands distance, space, and the ability to work remotely in order to keep people safe. Organisations are being implored to do their part to flatten the curve.

But what if you’re not set up to deal with a situation like this?

The truth is, few are.

The analog age is well and truly over

This change is impacting businesses large and small, but it’s having a disproportionate effect on those who’ve resisted moving to a digital environment in the past. Without a Cloud-based solution to fall back on, many businesses are teetering on the edge.

If you’ve operated in a largely analog environment up till now, the hurdles likely feel insurmountable. How do you keep your distance, keep staff safe, and keep your business running? How do you prepare documents? Collaborate on proposals? Review contracts?

The how and when of what comes next is a pressing question – and it’s one we’ll be helping you answer here on the Blog in the coming days, weeks, and months – but for now survival hinges on sorting what’s needed from what’s nice to have.

At this moment in time, you need a solution that will see you through, otherwise…

The window of opportunity is closing, fast

The worldwide shakeup is impacting businesses on a level we haven’t seen since the great depression. Those that are unable to make the transition to a digital environment within a timely manner are going to struggle to stay open.

We know that organisations are determined to keep moving, so any substantial downtime can be debilitating. The question for years has been ‘Analog, or digital?’. Nowadays, it’s a matter of ‘Do you want to stay in business, or not?’.

The answer is as simple as the solution.

Change is scary, but it can be simple

Digital is no longer a maybe, it’s a must.

Here at Stellar, we’ve been able to lean on the systems we’ve been developing for years in light of recent events, which has enabled us to stay on board, adjust, engage, and continue with business as usual as best we can in this unusual world.

It’s something we can’t not share with the businesses we know are affected. Sometimes the perfect tool for the job is invented long before it’s needed, and while we can’t say we saw this coming – few did – we can say it’s been the key to keeping our business moving.

With the right platform, you’ll be able to seize this moment to move board members, executives, and staff over to a digital, cloud-based working environment. It’s easy to set up and easier to use, so everyone can collaborate while maintaining a degree of separation, control, and momentum.

We know things are changing by the day, so the window of opportunity to ensure your business is prepared for what’s to come is closing fast. Digital is your key to operating with certainty today, while being responsive enough to adapt to the uncertainty of what tomorrow may bring.

Either way, we’re here for you.

Find out more

Adapting to these challenging times is simple with Stellar.

Our securely encrypted business platforms deliver instant access anytime, anywhere, on any device. Plus, they’re easy to learn and simple to use. We offer an efficient, functional, and cost-effective solution to communications, distribution, and engagement.

If you would like to see how Stellar can support you, please contact us today to learn more.

The post Digital Is Key To Your Organisation’s Survival In A Changing World appeared first on StellarLibrary.