Top Cybersecurity Concerns: How Trends Are Impacting the ANZ Region

Top Cybersecurity Concerns:

How Trends Are Impacting the ANZ Region

After a year of economic uncertainty and rising cybercrime, explore organsations’ happenings, attitudes, and beliefs on a wide array of cybersecurity and business issues.

Dig into highlights from our survey of 300 IT and cybersecurity decision-makers and business executives in Australia and New Zealand to discover how market forces and cyber threats are impacting their decisions.

Organisations Remain Confident in Their Cybersecurity — Despite Security Incidents and Lack of Talent

Even with staffing challenges and growing threats, organisations trust their ability to stay secure.

Like other regions around the globe, the ANZ region is facing an upwards trend in security incidents and a growing skills gap. Even with these persistent challenges, the data shows that organisations believe they are in a good place to continue to protect against new cyber risks.

While confidence is important, cybercriminals can and will take advantage of organisations lack of security monitoring and security experts. Investing in proactive security solutions is the best defense against threats like BEC and phishing. 

88% have confidence in their team’s ability to fend off a cyberattack:

68% experienced at least one major security event in the last year:

23% have no single person dedicated to cybersecurity full-time:

16% claim their organisation has no form of 24x7 security monitoring in place:

Economic Uncertainty is Causing Organisations to Shift Their Cybersecurity Budgets

Businesses are re-thinking where to spend, but not necessarily reducing their total budget.

Like other parts of the globe, economic uncertainty and recession fears have the ANZ region wondering where to allocate their cybersecurity budget in a way that keeps security top of mind while reducing spending. Layoffs have hit the industry, with some expecting future layoffs during 2023, and organisations are instead turning to cyber insurance and other solutions to fill that personnel gap. It’s worth noting that cost and a lack of insurability remain barriers to obtaining that desired insurance 

However, if a business is cutting costs in the proactive part of their security strategy, such as with a reduced headcount, then investing in reactive components, like cyber insurance, becomes even more critical.

62% of organisations stated that their cybersecurity budget will increase this year.

25% of respondents say they cut IT / Security headcount last year, with 15% also expecting to conduct layoffs in 2023

64% of executive leaders say they have procured cyber insurance for their organisation

Organisations Are Paying Ransom While Concealing Data Breaches

Attempting to preserve reputation, businesses would rather pay the ransom and keep the incident under wraps.

Reputation damage is a real concern. When a security incident, like a ransomware attack, happens, leaders know that refusing to pay the ransom, and therefore having to admit that their data is lost, can have lasting damages and unforeseen effects. Organisations are finding themselves split on what action to take if the worst-case scenario happens, with a quarter admitting they’ve knowingly concealed a cyber attack, and only about half saying they would never pay a ransom (the other half is divided on the percentage of ransom they would pay). 

25% respondents claim their ANZ-based organisations have knowingly concealed a cyber attack to preserve the reputation of their business.​

43% claim they would pay part or the entirety of a ransom request, depending on the amount.

The Private Sector and the Government Are at Odds When It Comes to Cybercrime

The private sector continues to be skeptical about the government’s ability to help mitigate cyber threats
Arctic Wolf Can Help In a time of new sophisticated technologies, emerging threats, and economic uncertainty, it’s never been more important to ensure your organisation’s security is strong for 2023 and beyond.
Arctic Wolf is a market leader in security operations; we can help close the gaps in your cybersecurity defenses, manage your risks, and provide customised compliance reporting. We’re here to help. Reach out to schedule an introductory call with one of our team members and learn more about how Arctic Wolf can benefit your organisation.

73% do not believe the government is doing enough to support businesses in the fight against cyber threats

Top Three Ways IT and Security Leaders Feel that Governments Could Better Support the Private Sector

Top Cybersecurity Concerns:

How Trends Are Impacting the ANZ Region

Arctic Wolf conducted a survey of 300 cybersecurity and IT decision-makers from Australia and New Zealand. Download this complementary infographic to access the results.

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Additional Resources for Security Leaders:​

The State of Compliance: 2022 Trends Report

The Big Business of Cyber Crime

The Global State of Cyber Insurance