Get cyber smart with CyberScient
A cybersecurity awareness training platform CyberScient has been launched with a free Kickstarter programme to help organisations protect against online threats and cyber risks.
Medical IT Advisors CEO Faustin Roman says a key issue facing every organisation today is the lack of awareness around cybersecurity, both on the business and human related risks.
“CyberScient empowers users to recognise and identify cybersecurity threats such as phishing and malware, as well as less obvious risks related to how they handle information,” Faustin explains.
“This acts as a human firewall as users get better at identifying threats and sharing information securely with one another.”
The free Kickstarter package provides a dire needed risk assessment and baseline as “everyone needs to know what assets they have, what to protect and how” he says.
CyberScient provides a toolbox of free cyber policy templates, including check lists of best practices that organisations can adapt to their needs around things like email and passwords, asset management and critical security controls.
Users can also download essential cyber awareness posters to share around an office space or email to staff and even get notification for their dark-web compromised credentials.
“No one needs to reinvent the wheel around cybersecurity policies, you can take a template and make it yours then move on to the next step, implementing basic security controls” Faustin says.
Building on the experience of managing the only NZ Health threat intelligence and CyberShield DNS protection services, Medical IT Advisors goal is to make cybersecurity affordable to any business.
They are partnering with New Zealand managed service providers and also offering a 20 percent discount on the first year for any health, frontline or non-profit organisation that subscribes to the CyberScient Lite or Pro versions.
One of the early adopters CNS is providing Cyberscient for their customers in the healthcare industry and other sensitive industries (Government, Utilities, Financial).
“Our customers had never the capability or funds to implement an effective cyberawareness programme before, Cyberscient is the first available platform in New Zealand and we are excited to offer its capabilities as part of our next generation IT Management Service” says Boris Wilkitzki, Managing Director, CNS.
“The platform is well designed for the New Zealand market and utilizes advanced New Zealand Threat intelligence to reflect relevant Phishing and Spearfishing attacks observed locally. Another big element for our platform choice was the pricing which was perfectly aligned to the New Zealand market and empowers even small organizations to educate their staff ongoingly”, Boris says.
Faustin says the Lite option costs less than the price of a coffee per user per month and includes monthly scheduled security awareness training for staff. The Pro option regularly tests staff on their training using a phishing simulator that sends spear phishing emails to staff to see if they are opened, then feeds this information back to the business. Both packages also include an extensive poster library to keep staff informed of potential risks and will be updated regularly with the latest threats seen by the NZ health threat intelligence service.
Faustin says around 90 percent of organisations operating in the healthcare space are small or medium-sized businesses that lack basic security controls and 90 percent of breaches are due to human error. “Healthcare environments use a lot of digital technology and are exposed to cyber risks as they inherently need to trust and collaborate with each other,” he says.
“The Covid-19 pandemic has created the perfect situation for the malicious actors to exploit organisations as there is a lot of fear and misinformation and opportunities for any staff member to fall for a scam, especially high-value targets like CEO, CIO, CFO and IT management.”
Mark Corbitt, CEO of Patients First, supports the initiative and said “cybersecurity awareness, training, and testing is important to all businesses whatever their size. Capability and expertise like that provided by CyberScient through Medical IT Advisors provides a way for companies to understand and begin to meet some of the cyber risks and consequent vulnerabilities in their businesses.”
Faustin concludes “CyberScient is about getting cyber smart, raising cybersecurity awareness in the community and build ‘cyber immunity’, as the more you know about cybersecurity threats, the better you can protect yourself, your organization and your partners; and the free entry price tag means now everyone can get ‘cyberscient’!”