Vertex Cyber Security

Scaling securely isn’t just a technical challenge. It’s a leadership one. That's why our CEO Martin Boyd is proud to represent Vertex Cyber Security at Innovation Bay's Summit Expedition: Scale-Up Edition this week in Victoria— an unplugged retreat built for founders navigating the next stage of growth. As businesses scale, so do their attack surfaces. The strongest founders we meet don’t treat cyber as a cost, they treat it as part of their transformation strategy: protecting trust and building resilience into the fabric of their companies.

Working with companies after some of their worst days in security has taught us this about most cybersecurity vendors:
 Most cybersecurity vendors aren’t rewarded when you stay secure. They’re rewarded when you spend more. Some are driven by software sales: adding another licence, another product, another dashboard. Others profit from billable hours: long projects that look busy, but don’t always make you safer. Both models miss what matters most: your actual protection. At Vertex, we’ve flipped the incentive so that our KPI isn’t sales or hours.
Instead, it’s simple: clients who don’t get hacked. Security isn’t a transaction. It’s a partnership. Rethinking your vendor? Choose expertise that’s invested in your outcome, not your invoice. Contact Vertex today.

ISO 27001 won’t save you from a breach. Neon’s recent security lapse exposed phone numbers, call recordings, and transcripts—then the app went dark. They had frameworks. But what they didn’t have was expertise. Frameworks like ISO 27001 and SOC 2 are maps, not protection. They outline the terrain, but they don’t teach you how to navigate it. A developer can build brilliant code — that doesn’t make them an expert in secure coding, cloud hardening, or threat detection. And without that depth of skill, “reasonable efforts” in a privacy policy quickly become hollow words. Real protection looks like: 🔒 Hardened cloud servers that minimise your attack surface. 🧩 Secure code reviews that find vulnerabilities before attackers do. ⚙️ Correct configuration across hundreds of settings in Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace to stop data leaks before they start. Neon’s breach is a reminder that checklists are not security. Expertise is. If your systems haven’t been reviewed by dedicated cybersecurity specialists, you’re not as protected as you think.

It was fantastic to connect and learn alongside the cyber security community at Cybercon Melbourne / Australian Cyber Conference 2025. With over 400+ keynote, breakout, and panel sessions spanning quantum-secure approaches to threat intel, policy, and resilience, this year’s program covered the full landscape. But one takeaway stood out: cyber isn’t a back-office function anymore. It can and must sit at the center of business strategy, trust, and growth. What struck our CEO Martin Boyd wasn’t only the technology on show, but the people and momentum driving it: government and enterprise leaders, security innovators, practitioners, academia, and rising startups all converged under the conference theme “Transform to Evolve.” As always, we’re bringing our learnings back to our clients. Here’s what Martin is reflecting on, and what you should keep top of mind: 1. Security as transformation, not just protection The urgency is shifting: cyber capabilities must evolve with business strategy, not merely support it. Resilience, adaptability, and threat anticipation emerged repeatedly. 2. Threat intelligence & automation maturity Across sessions, speakers emphasised that intelligence, automation, and orchestration, particularly at scale, are no longer optional but foundational to staying ahead. 3. Policy, regulation & accountability are catching up Government and regulatory voices were prominent: cyber is increasingly under governance, compliance, and national security lens. Alignment across legal, risk, and technical teams is now non-negotiable. 4. People, culture & collaboration remain differentiators Tools will only get you so far — the strongest defence is a culture of awareness, cross-team alignment, and responsiveness. Thanks to the organisers, speakers, and our peers who made CyberCon 2025 such an amazing event. Martin and the Vertex team return with even sharper clarity on how we’ll help clients not just defend, but evolve, as the cyber landscape continues to shift.

It was great to be on the ground with the community at Google I/O Extended Sydney. Sessions dug into Gemini 2.5, agentic workflows, and how developers are shipping safer, faster apps on Google Cloud. It's clear that Google's priorities right now are deepening AI capability across its ecosystem—from Gemini's reasoning and agentic features to tighter integration with Cloud, Workspace, and everyday developer tools. What struck our CEO Martin was not only the tech but the companies and people behind it. Developers, Google Developer Experts, local startups, and enthusiasts—everyone came together to share insights, experiment, and push boundaries. As always, we're taking our learnings back to our clients. And as a business, we now have an even sharper view into where Google is heading—especially the layers of AI integration. Thanks to the organisers and speakers for such a great event!

There are five questions we wish every business asked their IT provider. Bookmark this and bring it to your next 1:1 with your IT. Question 1: Do you start with prevention or with monitoring (SOC/SIEM)?  ● Why ask it: Monitoring without strong basics is like CCTV cameras without door locks. You'll get alerts—after attackers walk in.  ● What to look for in their answer: A prevention-first plan: MFA enforced everywhere, patching SLAs, secure configuration baselines, removal of legacy protocols, and least-privilege access. Monitoring added after foundations are in place. Question 2: Where do MDR/XDR fit in our overall security strategy?  ● Why ask it: MDR/XDR are valuable, but they exist because traditional AV isn't enough. They are a layer, not the strategy.  ● What to look for in their answer: Clear positioning of MDR/XDR alongside prevention controls—not as a silver bullet. Evidence they tune policies for your environment, document response playbooks, and measure outcomes (time to detect/respond), not just deploy an agent. Question 3: Exactly what's in scope—and what isn't? Map it to recognized controls.  ● Why ask it: Breach post-mortems often start with "I thought our MSP handled that." Ambiguity is risk.  ● What to look for in the answer: A written service matrix tied to frameworks (e.g., Essential Eight, ISO27001): who owns MFA enforcement, patching cadence, backups and restore testing, email security, endpoint protection, identity and access logging, and user training. Transparent gaps and recommendations—no 'we do everything.' Question 4: How do you prove the basics are actually working—every week?  ● Why ask it: Policies don't stop attacks; evidence of controls working does.  ● What to look for in their answer: Routine, business-readable reports with hard numbers. Question 5: What's our incident response plan—and when did we last rehearse it?  ● Why ask it: The first 60 minutes decide cost, downtime, and headlines.  ● What to look for in their answer: A tested playbook with named roles and clear communication paths. Use these five questions in this order and insist on answers. If the responses are vague, product-led, or can't show evidence, you've just surfaced your biggest cyber risk. Better yet: Contact Vertex for an independent, evidence-based posture review today: your partner in cybersecurity.

591 GB. 430,000 files. One Victorian school. The Loyola College breach is a brutal reminder that Australian schools are now prime targets for ransomware and data theft. Attackers reportedly exfiltrated and leaked hundreds of gigabytes of sensitive staff and student information—then called the school "poorly protected." Whether that's fair or not, the lesson is clear: hoping it won’t be you isn’t a strategy. Here's what schools can learn and action now from the Loyola breach: ● Treat identity and email files as crown jewels—harden them first. ● Shift from reactive to proactive: test your controls, rehearse your response, and close single points of failure. ● Make cybersecurity a whole school capability, not just an IT task. And when it comes to practical priorities, here are some tips on enhancing cybersecurity in your school: ● Cybersecurity Training: Regular, ongoing training for staff and students. Make phishing and password hygiene muscle memory. ● Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA): Enforce MFA on all critical systems—especially email and file storage—to blunt stolen-password attacks. ● Penetration Testing and Security Audits: Schedule independent tests and audits to find and fix real-world weaknesses before attackers do. ● Incident Response Plan: Keep a rehearsed playbook with roles, comms templates, containment steps, and recovery runbooks. ● Secure Malware Protection: Maintain modern endpoint protection across every device; monitor, patch, and remove legacy access. Don't wait to become the next headline. The threat is real, and the time to act is now. Contact Vertex Cyber Security today for a tailored assessment and fortify your school's defenses before it's too late.

A fantastic few days at the Intersekt Fintech Festival in Melbourne last week! Our CEO, Martin Boyd, was thrilled to represent Vertex Cyber Security at Australia's premier gathering of Fintechs, investors, regulators, and advisors. In Martin's words, "we were super grateful to see such amazing businesses disrupting and innovating in the space, and working together to create a new and better future.” Events like Intersekt are essential for staying in touch with the great work being done across the Australian innovation ecosystem. We are proud to be aligned with these forward-thinking founders, ensuring their breakthrough technologies are secured by design. A huge thanks to FinTech Australia for putting on such a high-quality program.

Beyond protecting businesses, Vertex is deeply committed to giving back. Our Annual Giveback Report is officially out, showcasing our unwavering commitment to making a positive impact beyond cybersecurity. Giving back to our community isn't just an initiative; it's one of the core tenets of Vertex's business philosophy, and this year, we're thrilled to announce we've donated over $27,000 in vital core cyber security training to charities and contributed over $12,000 directly from our revenue to support various charitable causes. This commitment to our community is a reflection of our values, and we're excited for even greater impact in the years to come. We extend our heartfelt thanks to our clients and partners whose trust makes these meaningful giveback initiatives possible, and we invite you to read the full report and see how, together, we're building a more secure and supportive future, together. 

A fantastic night at the Startmate Alumni Evening! Our CEO and Founder, Martin Boyd, had a great time connecting with so many amazing founders and celebrating the incredible startup ecosystem in Australia. It was inspiring to see so many founders building awesome companies that are growing and genuinely exciting. We especially enjoyed hearing about the latest in fintech and payments at the Stripe event, and want to give a shout-out to their awesome team for shaping the future of that world. Nights like these are essential for staying in touch with the the great work being done in Australian startup, and for building the conversations that will drive the next generation of tech. A huge thanks to Startmate for putting on such a great event!