Half of Aussie businesses alarmed by vulnerability to cyber attacks

Australian businesses are stepping up their cyber security measures after a concerning number of cyber attacks. New resources such as AI-enhanced tools and emphasised cyber security training are under ongoing development to attempt to nullify this issue.

Recent studies have highlighted the increase in cyber security attacks, with over 50 per cent of businesses being alarmed by their vulnerability to these threats.

The largest concern of the variety of attacks is email phishing, which can manipulate an employee to divulge personal information such as online banking logins, credit card details or passwords that could expose private information pertaining to the business that the employee represents.

“As cyber security threats continue, businesses are encouraged to adopt a multifaceted approach. A combination of IT security investment, workforce education and strong security policies would help ensure an improved defence against these risks,” said Laura Burgess, research analyst at Capterra.

Added measures have been taken by businesses to combat this widespread issue; however, many employees are still falling victim to cyber security attacks due to weak password practices. This remains the constant roadblock to achieving some form of cyber attack immunity, as 45 per cent of respondents and people in general use the same exact password across multiple accounts on different platforms. This further adds to that risk of exposure and magnifies the probability of that attack occurring to the business and the employee.

Along with email phishing, there are other security concerns, such as ransomware attacks, AI-enhanced attacks, business email compromise, and software supply chain attacks. Although these attacks aren’t on the same consistency as email phishing, they are just as damaging a threat to Australian businesses.

The nature of these threats has forced the hand of a lot of businesses to really invest in their cyber security, with more than half (58 per cent) increasing their spending towards their IT security by implementing a legitimate budget and newer, fresher cyber security software that is critical towards ensuring the protection of private information and safeguarding operational processes.

A trailblazer in the cyber security game is the use of AI-driven solutions, a practice that many businesses (65 per cent) have adopted to guarantee the safety of their information. AI-driven solutions have the ability to analyse a significant amount of data, which results in the immediate detection of suspect patterns that may lead to a security threat.

Speed kills, and in this case, the rapid detection of unusual patterns is crucial to identifying and expelling legitimate cyber security threats while minimising impact; this is the point of difference that AI-driven solutions offer.

This point of difference has become a major factor for a number of Australian businesses when it comes to protecting their cyber security, as 42 per cent stated that email phishing and social engineering attacks are the driving factor for adopting AI-driven solutions because they specialise in rapid detection, which directly combats these threats.

Increasing budgets to involve AI-driven solutions and emphasised training around personal cyber security comprehensively address the ongoing threats of cyber attacks at this moment. However, constant attention and initiative are needed for Australian businesses in this space, as it is an ever-changing landscape.