From shopping to banking to communicating – almost everyone and everything is online. The local Church has a Facebook page and your 85-year old mother or grandmother can send an email. We’re all online – but unfortunately so too are criminals or ‘bad actors’ looking to exploit, steal and/or cause damage.
Given the increasing incidence and complexity of cybercrime, cybersecurity is a major issue for businesses. And nowhere more so, than for businesses like ours operating in the financial services sector.
While no one is immune to the threat of cybercrime, you can rest assured that at 5 Financial we take your trust in us seriously. We take every precaution to keep your financial information safe.
Firstly, our IT team actively and continually ensures we comply with the ‘Essential 8’ framework recommended by the ACSC (Australian Cyber Security Centre).
Here’s a summary of what this entails:
1. Application whitelisting
2. Patch management
3. Restrict administrative privileges
4. User application hardening
5. Patching applications
6. Regular backups
7. Configure Microsoft Office macro settings
8. Multi-factor authentication
If you’d like more information on ACSC’s essential 8, you can read about it here.
In addition, our IT team have a comprehensive incident response plan in place, which includes predefined procedures for identifying, responding to, and recovering from cybersecurity incidents. Regular drills and exercises are conducted to ensure our team is prepared to handle potential threats effectively.
By adhering to these Essential 8 cybersecurity measures, our IT team proactively safeguards our technology and protects your sensitive information from potential cyber threats. We continuously monitor and update our security practices to stay ahead of emerging threats and maintain a robust defence posture.
For example, Morningstar takes all reasonable efforts to secure the confidential information, assets, and intellectual property of its clients. Morningstar’s Information Security Policies and Standards define information classification, appropriate data handling and usage, roles and responsibilities, access controls and provisioning, logging, monitoring, cryptography and key management, security awareness, virus prevention, risk assessments, physical security, mobile device policy, vulnerability management, policy enforcement, and more. Policies are aligned with ISO 27001:2013 and NIST SP-800 publications. Each year the Chief Information Security Officer reviews and approves the Information Security Policies.
For myprosperity, keeping clients’ data safe is a key part of the organisation’s mission. Its security program is based on the concept of ‘defence in depth’: where multiple layers of security controls are built throughout the organisation, operating environment, and product. The organisation is ISO27001 certified and is audited periodically by an independent, accredited certification body to maintain this certification.
Netwealth has a range of physical and electronic security measures in place to protect clients’ personal information from misuse, unauthorised access and improper disclosure. The organisation also monitors and maintains its security system to ensure that its online services are secure, and your personal information is protected appropriately.
At 5 Financial, we and the organisations we collaborate with make every effort to keep your financial information safe. But it’s important to remember that you also play a vital role in protecting yourself online. Here are some tips on what you can do to stay safe when using the internet.
Please note, the above information does not constitute financial advice and does not take into account your current circumstances or goals. Please speak with a financial adviser before acting on any information found here or throughout the 5 Financial website.