Cybersecurity for sole traders

Do sole traders need cybersecurity? Yes, and mostly the cheap, unglamorous kind: a backup nobody can delete, multi-factor sign-in on your email, and a rule for changed bank details. To a scammer, a one-person business looks like any other business, just with nobody to double-check the invoice.

The email that costs sole traders the most

Picture a Thursday. You're between jobs, phone in one hand. An email from the supplier you've paid for six years: same logo, same signature, a polite note that they've changed banks. Last month's materials, $6,400, new account details attached. You pay it in the car park.

Three weeks later the supplier rings, friendly, asking about the overdue invoice. The money went to someone else. You still owe it.

That is false billing. According to the National Anti-Scam Centre, it was the scam Australian small businesses reported most in 2025. The one thing that stops it costs nothing: when bank details change, ring the supplier on a number you already have, then pay.

If you've already paid

  1. Ring your bank straight away and ask them to try to recall the payment. The sooner, the better the chance.
  2. Tell the real supplier, on a number you already have.
  3. Report it to the Australian Cyber Security Centre through ReportCyber at cyber.gov.au.

Do these two things today, member or not

  1. Make "ring them first, then pay" your rule for any changed bank details.
  2. Turn on multi-factor sign-in for your email. Signing in then needs a code from your phone as well as your password, so a thief who has your password still can't get in. About ten minutes; the government's guide walks you through it.

When you'd rather not do the rest yourself

When it's just you, every hour spent on this is an hour you aren't billing. WISECLICK Cyber Core is $59 a month for an Australian sole trader, about $2 a day, and it's built to need almost none of your time.

  • A second opinion on anything suspicious. Forward the email or invoice that looks off, like the one on that Thursday. A person checks it and tells you the same business day.
  • Your laptop and one phone, protected and watched. Security software runs on both, and every alert lands in front of our team as well as you, so it doesn't sit unread while you're on a job. If something does go wrong, we work out what happened and fix it, and the fix is included.
  • Your files, backed up every day. Each daily copy is locked so nobody can delete or change it, not even someone who has your password. Every new backup renews the lock on everything still on your computer, and anything you delete can be brought back for sixty days. Lose the laptop or delete the wrong folder, and we restore your work for you, usually within a few hours.
  • One line every morning. The app tells you whether anything needs you. Most days, nothing does.

AUD, GST included. Cancel any time.

Questions sole traders ask

I'm not technical. Will I cope?

Yes. You install it once with help, then the app tells you in one sentence if anything needs you.

I already have antivirus. Isn't that enough?

It helps, but it doesn't back up your files, it tells only you when something's wrong, and it can't tell you whether an invoice is real.

Does Core back up my email?

Core backs up the files on your laptop. Backing up the mailbox itself (Microsoft 365 email, OneDrive, SharePoint and Teams) comes with Cyber Plus and Cyber Max.

What if I take on staff?

Move up to Cyber Plus (three computers) or Cyber Max (five) when you need it.

Is there a contract?

No. Cancel any time.

The same Thursday, as a member

The email arrives. You forward it before you pay. Before the day is out, a person has told you the bank details are fake, and the $6,400 is still yours.

Join Cyber Core, $59 a month

Or start with your Cyber Report Card

Who's behind it

WISECLICK (wise.click) is a cybersecurity membership for Australian businesses of one to five people. WISECLICK Pty Ltd is a Sydney company at 56 Pitt Street, built by people who have run IT for Australian businesses since 2004.

Sources

Last reviewed 29 October 2026. The Thursday story is an illustration, not a member's case.

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