In the 1996 blockbuster movie, Independence Day, Jeff Goldblum, the “IT guy” was asked by military personnel how on earth he was able to infiltrate the alien’s spaceship shield. He answered something along the lines of, “I implanted a virus, a computer virus”. Adding emphasis that this virus is not of a human body infection but rather an infection of a computer. Everyone was in awe. Eyes fixed. This was unheard of.

Not anymore.

Today, if someone mentions a virus, the first thing we picture is a hospital’s servers being held to ransom or a bogus invoice being paid on the basis of a “believable” email garnering payment and a sense of urgency.

We all know of, or have heard of an incident, be it the Australian Census night Denial of Service attack, a friend’s Facebook account being cloned or the British health system being held ransom for Bitcoin.

Within organisations there are constant emails being sent to warn employees, training is being ramped up and passwords are changed monthly, all in an effort to engrain cyber security into the culture.

Yet, for some reason, no matter what organisations seem to do, as one door closes, another one is opened. It is a never ending battle. And that is the message that needs to get across to every individual and every business. Criminals are crafty and contrary to their dirty trade, they are quite sophisticated. They are growing in numbers and so too is their chain of intellect.

Technology and human input go hand-in-hand to prevent these attacks. Security, high level training, constant updates, stimulation of awareness and an ever-vigilant-always-skeptical mindset and control environment are key to combatting these crafty cyber crooks.

Don’t sit back and wait for the attack, leave little to no room for opportunity.

Promote awareness. Practice good security measures. Prevent an attack.