Former true-crime writer appointed consulting partner at McGrathNicol

afr.com:

Newly appointed McGrathNicol partner Tony Barnes says big organisations are still struggling to protect themselves from cyber threats and that complacency in cybersecurity will hurt the sale value of otherwise attractive businesses.

Tony Barnes joins McGrathNicol from Cyber Partners Australia 

After making the unusual transition from journalism to consulting via a best-selling foray into true-crime writing, Barnes has carved out a niche in conducting cyber due diligence for private equity firms looking to buy and sell businesses.

Mr Barnes said cybersecurity had become “front and centre of every single due diligence that gets done. Whatever the company is, everyone is reliant on data, and that becomes a massive risk in the context of a transaction that can have an impact on valuation.”

While the emphasis on cybersecurity has “really ramped up” in the past few years after several high-profile data breaches, building protection remains an ongoing process: “I haven’t done a due diligence yet where we haven’t found gaps [in cybersecurity],” said the newly appointed partner.

The Brisbane-based Briton joins McGrathNicol from Cyber Partners Australia, where he was managing partner, and worked in Deloitte’s UK risk advisory cyber practice until earlier this year.

Although previous guises as a journalist, author and rock concert broadcaster may seem far removed from the comparatively dour world of corporate consulting, Mr Barnes says his skills from former careers are applied “every day” in the corporate world.

“The ability to write, communicate, think on your feet, ask the right questions and keep drilling down [in important meetings]. That’s all part of what we do. It’s exactly the same skill set as journalism,” he said.

Barnes