Experts: Australian firms facing cybersecurity challenges

With the end of the financial year upon us, Australian organisations are at a critical juncture, facing economic headwinds and a landscape fraught with uncertainty.

Vice President for Asia Pacific at Commvault, Martin Creighan, believes despite slow growth and continued inflation, the economy remains relatively stable.

However, he admits the year ahead presents significant challenges, particularly regarding cyber risks.

Speaking with TechDay, Creighan highlighted the pressing need for organisations to re-evaluate their approaches to digital investments, balancing cautious spending with the necessity of maintaining robust and secure systems.

Creighan emphasised that organisations must prioritise basic safety measures to safeguard crucial internal and customer data, which he referred to as the "crown jewels."

"One factor that seems very obvious - but in most cases is overlooked or underdone - is testing the cyber readiness plan," he said.

Research from Commvault indicates that 62% of Australian and 68% of New Zealand organisations experienced at least one cyberattack in the last twelve months.

"While 69% of those reported that they have an incident response plan in place, 23% suggested they have a poor response plan and 56% believe they 'could do better'."

Creighan added: "Testing a plan involves more than just a desktop exercise to make sure solutions are operational. Rather, it requires a range of scenarios and real-time checks to ensure that minimal data would be exposed to various attacks."

He believes the process doesn't need to be time and labour intense, or cost a lot of money.

"The stringent testing of a cyber plan not only helps the organisation reduce risk and comply with regulations but also ensures business continuity, all of which are integral to becoming a cyber resilient enterprise."

Gigamon's ANZ Country Manager, Jonathan Hatchuel, told TechDay the financial year "feels different" due to decreases in consumer spending and extended B2B sales cycles.

Hatchuel attributes this to market uncertainty and geopolitical instability, prompting a 'wait and see' attitude among many customers.

Hatchuel explained that businesses are becoming increasingly stringent in their spending, demanding extensive justification and return on investment (ROI) analyses for critical projects.

Two primary themes have emerged from customer discussions.

"Firstly, budgets are tight and shrinking, despite increasing business requirements and IT service demands," he explained.

"Secondly, customers are consolidating. This is most prevalent with hyper-scalers and cloud workloads."

Hatchuel believes hybrid cloud environments, which distribute workloads across on-premise, private, and public clouds, remain the dominant configuration.

However, he added customers are now consolidating onto single hyper-scaler platforms or reducing the number of tools and applications used within enterprises.

This consolidation provides an opportunity for companies like Gigamon to assist customers in improving their security postures while demonstrating ROI.

Hatchuel highlighted that they anticipate an increase in cyber-attacks in FY25, driven by the rise of AI utilisation among cybercriminals and the growing prevalence of Cybercrime-as-a-Service.

The cybersecurity landscape demands that Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) adeptly balance business imperatives, enhance security measures, and manage shrinking or stagnant budgets—a challenging task indeed.

As both Creighan and Hatchuel underscore, Australian organisations must navigate a labyrinth of economic, technological, and security challenges.

The pair believe focused efforts on enhancing cybersecurity measures through thorough testing and strategic investments are essential.