Cyber security spend spikes after Optus, Medibank hacks

Australian organisations are spending more than ever before on their cyber defences, in a bid to avoid becoming the next high-profile hacking victim.

The growing number of major data breaches over the past 12 months has led to a corresponding jump in cyber security budgets, according to research from global cyber security group Netskope. Picture: iStock

Some 80 per cent of Australia’s large organisations have upped their cyber security spend in 2022, a significant jump on prior years, amid a rise in high-profile data breaches affecting the likes of Optus and Medibank and their millions of customers.

The growing number of major data breaches over the past 12 months has led to a corresponding jump in cyber security budgets, according to research from global cyber security group Netskope, which found that the headline-grabbing data loss incidents have sparked C-Suite executives – particularly of larger organisations – into action.

When asked how the breaches have influenced awareness among their organisation’s leadership, more than three-quarters (77 per cent) of respondents said their leadership’s awareness of cyber threats had increased, and 70 per cent were also seeing an increase in leadership’s willingness to invest in cybersecurity.

Eighty per cent of organisations surveyed with 200 or more employees are increasing their cyber security spend for the year, up from 63 per cent a year earlier, while 41 per cent of smaller businesses are doing the same.

“The data breaches that occurred last year deeply impacted the Australian community, but it seems there is some positive to draw from those events,” Netskope’s chief security officer for APAC David Fairman said.

“In the last decade, attitudinal gaps between technology and business leaders regarding cyber security have been a key factor slowing down cyber security improvements, and it seems that both teams are now – at last – on the same page, ready to bolster cyber defences for their organisation and customers.

Netskope APAC executive David Fairman.

“Even though no organisation is ever fully protected from cyber threats, we need this united front to show cyber criminals that we won’t make it easy for them and Australia won’t be an easy target anymore.”

The survey, of 300 Australian executives, found that while awareness of cyber risks had grown as a result of the high-profile Australian incidents dominating the headlines, there was no consensus on how to handle an incident with half (51 per cent) of respondents saying they would be unlikely to pay if they were victims of ransomware.

Recent research from cybersecurity group CyberCX found that cyber extortion attempts are soaring, with 16 successful attacks on Australian businesses in November alone.

It comes as Australia has set itself a target to become “the most cyber secure country in the world by 2030”, and the federal government has commissioned a new cyber security strategy to be led by former Telstra chief executive Andy Penn.

The government has flagged that it may make paying cyber ransoms illegal. Over the past four years six high-profile corporate victims of attacks – Medibank, Optus, Woolworths, Nine Entertainment, tech group Appen, property valuation firm Landmark White and cosmetics group BWX each did not pay ransoms.

Originally published as Cyber security spend spikes after Optus, Medibank hacks