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The Real Estate Institute of Queensland (REIQ), alongside AON and CyberCert, has launched a new cyber resilience toolkit for the state’s real estate profession.
It’s been developed with the aim of navigating “the increasing risk of cyber crime” across the industry, equipping real estate professionals with knowledge and guidance, according to REIQ CEO Antonia Mercorella.
“Make no mistake, cyber criminals have increasingly cunning ways of stealing money or personal information,” she stressed.
She continued: “According to the Australian Cyber Security Centre, Australians reported a staggering $33 billion lost to cyber crime in 2020–2021.
“Sadly, real estate professionals and agencies are a primary target for cyber attacks – partly because of the large sums of money they hold and transact as well as the large volumes of personal information they collect and store.”
The CEO said the toolkit is an important resource which seeks to assist businesses in becoming more resilient to cyber attacks, especially since “insufficient security settings or requirements, and in many cases poor employee education, can also create vulnerabilities – a simple mistake from an employee could open the floodgates”.
From her perspective, the toolkit will not only aid real estate professionals in identifying common cyber risks and threats to their business, but it will also prepare their business and employees with nationally recognised best practice security measures, and implement strategies to mitigate and recover from cyber security incidents.
With the resources available for download via the REIQ website, Ms Mercorella stated that the toolkit’s launch is “yet another way we can support real estate professionals”.
The REIQ’s initiative comes weeks after the findings of a Mastercard survey was released, showing small businesses are recoiling from the cost of cyber security, with nearly one-third of small businesses cutting back on cyber security measures.
That’s despite a recent warning from ASIC that directors are duty-bound to ensure their company has “adequate” cyber security and the ability to recover from an attack.
REB recently reported on three key reasons why continuous improvement in the cyber security space is “crucial”. Read more about it here.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Grace Ormsby
Grace is a journalist across Momentum property and investment brands. Grace joined Momentum Media in 2018, bringing with her a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Communication (Journalism) from the University of Newcastle. She’s passionate about delivering easy to digest information and content relevant to her key audiences and stakeholders.
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