The Australian Information Security Association (AISA) says an increase in cyber-related incidents and changes to Federal Government requirements mean Australian businesses will need to find $10 billion a year to boost cyber security measures.
Australian businesses are already spending over $5 billion annually on cyber security products according to AustCyber, but this will need to almost double to meet future
needs, according to AISA Chair, Damien Manuel.
“Under investment in cyber security by Australian businesses has been a problem for many
years,” Mr Manuel said.
“A recent study by Netskope found that almost 70% of organisations in Australia had not
invested enough in cyber security measures and were vulnerable to a major cyber-attack.
“With significant data breaches in major organisations like Optus and Medibank last year, the Australian business sector is finally waking up to the very real and very present danger of cyber attacks. With the changes also being implemented by the Federal Government, we
see the impost to business is going to reach, at least, $10 billion annually,” said Mr Manuel.
The same study by Netskope reported that 70% of respondents had seen an increase in
their leadership’s willingness to bolster investments – the proportion of organisations that are planning bigger cyber security budgets between 2022 and 2023 jumped to 63%, compared with 45% that saw increases between 2020 and 2022.
“The business sector will need to ask themselves, what is the cost for not getting up to
speed on this major security issue, what is the cost to reputation and ultimately customers
and sales? Business cannot afford to wait, the time for action is now,” said Mr Manuel.
The Australia Trade and Investment Commission reports there is a cybercrime every seven
minutes in Australia.
