The Essential Eight for small businesses, in plain English
What ASD’s eight cyber security strategies mean for a 10-person office, which maturity level to aim for, and a practical first step for each one.
Privacy, cyber security, scams and practical ways to protect your digital life.
Account and device security, data privacy, active threats and official warnings, with clear explanations of who is affected and what to do. Scams are one part of the coverage.
Do these first, in this order. Our first-hour guide has the detail.
What ASD’s eight cyber security strategies mean for a 10-person office, which maturity level to aim for, and a practical first step for each one.
Business email hacked? The first-hour steps for Australian small businesses: lock the attacker out, check rules, warn your bank and customers, report.
Warning signs of payment redirection scams, a five-step check before paying, a bank-details policy to copy, and what to do straight away if you’ve paid.
Showing 1–12 of 47 stories, newest first

A text says a tax refund is waiting and you just need to tap the link. Here are the warning signs the ATO and myGov list, how to check safely, and what to do if you clicked.

Scams on buyers and sellers, from fake shops to fake ‘item sold’ messages, made up 58.7% of Scamwatch loss reports this year. Here’s what they look like.

A decade-old bug lets attackers log into some Alpine Linux and other musl-based systems over SSH without a password. Who’s affected, and how to check and fix it.

US agencies warn hackers are targeting commercial fridge and freezer controllers and could change temperatures. Australia’s cyber agency says check your exposure.

From iOS 27.3, files and photos shared with ‘Anyone with the link’ are open to Apple’s harmful-content checks. What changes, and how to share privately instead.

Private browsing stops your own device keeping a record. It doesn’t hide you from websites, your employer or your internet provider. Here’s what it does do.

A fake invoice or login page only needs one click. Seven Gmail and Google Account settings that cut the risk, with Google’s own steps for each.

Cheap Android TV boxes came with a backdoor built in. Up to 42,000 were in Australia. Google has cut the criminals off, but the code is still on the boxes.

Your web host has probably patched PHP. The storage box in your office is your job. Synology and QNAP have released PHP2Shell fixes, including for older systems.

Two bad versions of the Claude Code extension on Cursor’s marketplace planted a hidden SSH key on Macs and Windows PCs. Uninstalling may not remove it.

Apple and Google include free password managers. What Bitwarden and 1Password charge, what the money adds, and who should pay, from the vendors’ own pages.

ASD’s new threat report counts 82,000 cybercrime reports and says AI is helping attackers move faster. Small businesses report an average cost of $55,400.