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Business owners are more concerned about cyber attacks than ever before; however, cyber security investment remains lacking.
Cyber security is increasingly front of mind among Australian businesses, with more than half of business owners being more concerned about cyber attacks than they were just six months ago.
Sadly, those businesses – 59 per cent of them – are probably right to be concerned, as more than one in two Aussie businesses were targets of a cyber attack in 2024.
All of this is according to new research conducted by access management firm JumpCloud, which polled 300 Australian companies for its report From Chaos to Control: Simplifying IT in the Fast Lane of Change, which was conducted in November 2024.
Worryingly, that is a higher figure than either the United States or the United Kingdom, where 41 and 45 per cent of businesses have experienced a cyber attack.
One reason for this difference is that Australian businesses spend less on cyber security than their overseas counterparts. However, most expect to spend more in the coming six months, and a quarter expect to make “significant” investments in that space.
Artificial intelligence is one of the key drivers of cyber risk. Seventy per cent of organisations said that AI is moving faster than their ability to mitigate cyber security risks, while 36 per cent reported being the target of AI-based attacks. As to the speed of managing AI risk, it’s a split – one in five businesses feel they are moving too slow, while one in five feel they are moving too fast.
The complexity of solutions on offer is also an issue, with nearly half of the businesses polled struggling to manage application rollouts and multiple device types within the business.
“Australian businesses urgently need better security and are prepared to increase spending on defence. But they’re struggling with the sheer number and complexity of solutions available and navigating the opportunities and potential threats that AI represents,” Rajat Bhargava, CEO and co-founder of JumpCloud, said in a statement.
“According to the data, Australian businesses are less likely to use a managed service provider (MSP) to support their IT needs, mostly due to cost, though many anticipate boosting their investment. There’s an opportunity for MSPs to offer a more prominent role in cyber security, particularly when it comes to managing cyber security tools and SaaS.”
David Hollingworth has been writing about technology for over 20 years, and has worked for a range of print and online titles in his career. He is enjoying getting to grips with cyber security, especially when it lets him talk about Lego.
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