The History

The 100 Point Cyber Check was developed as part of a research project in cyber risk assessment for small business at Melbourne's La Trobe University. The intellectual property in the 100 Point Cyber Check was then licensed to Cyberstronomy Pty Ltd, a company which provides cyber assurance and third-party R&D services covering the whole spectrum of product and service development in cybersecurity. 

Our Approach

Our vision is to stop cybercriminals making money from ordinary people – your customers. We want to help every company begin the journey of managing cyber risk, and taking responsibility for actively combating cyber threats. We understand that cybersecurity is very complicated and not that interesting to most people – that’s why we’ve designed the 100 Point Cyber Check to be easy to use, providing you (and your board) with a level of assurance that you have taken all “reasonable steps” to protect your customers’ data. The 100 Point Cyber Check is the first step in the journey towards cyber maturity; combining cyber hygiene with active cyber measures, implemented and evaluated as part of a coherent cyber plan, is critical for boards to obtain cyber assurance. 

Our Story

Our business grew from our frustration in seeing businesses making the same mistakes over and over. We would get angry every time we would see a headline about “yet another” data breach, or the billions of dollars that cybercriminals siphon off our economy every year. We decided to fight back, and offer our distilled knowledge to you at low cost. The questions used in the 100 Point Cyber Check are based on research undertaken at Melbourne’s La Trobe University. 

The Founder

Cyberstronomy Pty Ltd was founded by Professor Paul Watters.

Professor Watters is Adjunct Professor of Cybersecurity at La Trobe University and Honorary Profesor of Security Studies and Criminology at Macquarie University. He is a Chartered IT Professional, a Fellow of the British Computer Society, a Senior Member of the IEEE, and a Member of the Australian Psychological Society. Professor Watters is a graduate of the University of Cambridge, and an active member of the Senate of the University.

Professor Watters is one of the world's leading cyber security researchers, with his work being cited more than 7,088 times by other researchers, with a h-index of 39 (meaning that at least 39 of his papers have been cited at least 39 times). A full listing of his research papers spanning malware analysis, phishing, forensics, Child Sex Abuse Material (CSAM) prevention, cyber intelligence, anti-piracy and others can be found on Google Scholar.