AI cuts entry-level cyber jobs in Australian firms

Barracuda has released research showing that 45% of Australian organisations have replaced or removed entry-level cybersecurity roles with artificial intelligence. The study also found that 68% of Australian security teams face AI-related skills gaps.

The findings point to broader strain across cybersecurity functions in Australia. Among surveyed organisations, 94% reported cybersecurity skills gaps, while 64% said their security teams were under pressure and struggling to scale as business demands changed.

The research was based on a survey of 2,000 mid- to senior-level IT and security decision-makers at organisations with 100 to 2,000 employees, including 200 respondents in Australia. It covered experiences over the previous 12 months across a range of international markets.

Australian respondents identified AI-related risks and advanced identity and phishing threats as the most common areas of weakness, with 68% citing gaps in each. Those threats included business email compromise, OAuth abuse and multifactor authentication bypass.

Security teams also reported pressure from expanding workloads. More than half of Australian respondents, or 52%, said security professionals were expected to support growing digital operations without additional resources. Another 44% said business expectations outpaced their teams' cybersecurity skills and tools, while 39% said expectations exceeded staffing capacity.

That mismatch is affecting how teams operate. Nearly a quarter of Australian respondents, or 24%, said their organisations could protect the business only reactively rather than proactively.

Headcount pressure

The report found that AI is already influencing staffing decisions. Overall, 84% of organisations said AI was affecting security roles or headcount, and 64% had experienced workforce reductions linked to AI.

Entry-level jobs appeared more exposed than senior positions. While 45% of Australian organisations said entry-level roles had been replaced or eliminated by AI, 33% said the same of more senior roles.

The data suggests companies are changing the structure of cybersecurity work rather than removing people from decision-making entirely. Almost two-thirds of respondents, or 65%, said they used a shared decision-making model in incident response, with AI supporting investigation and analysis while humans retained responsibility for judgment and final decisions.

Skills shift

As AI and consolidated security tools increasingly handle routine analysis and response tasks, organisations are seeking different types of expertise from cybersecurity staff. Human roles are shifting towards threat investigation, incident leadership, automation governance and business risk management.

Six in ten organisations surveyed said they needed more skills in incident response, decision-making under pressure and risk. The research also found that 67% needed strategic security leadership, including AI governance and the ability to translate technical risk into business impact.

The findings indicate that the entry route into the profession may be narrowing at the same time as demand grows for broader and more senior judgment. That could complicate recruitment and training if employers cut junior roles without creating alternative pathways for new workers to gain practical experience.

Siroui Mushegian, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Barracuda, said the results showed how quickly the operating environment was changing. "The findings show how the impact of AI is changing the cybersecurity landscape faster than many security teams can build the necessary skills, visibility, and governance," Mushegian said.

Mushegian said organisations needed to adjust team structures while preserving human oversight. "Organisations need to reshape their security teams, combining the power of AI and automation with human expertise, judgment, and visibility. We must nurture these critical skills in the next generation of cybersecurity professionals, building new development pathways and opportunities for hands-on experience," Mushegian said.