IBM warns of Australia’s rising cost of cybersecurity

“The long hours of work that many of these incidents that responders are pushed into [are to blame].”

Over the past year, IBM has shed 22,000 workers, including 3900 last week as part of a global downturn in the sector. But Mr Henderson said the cybersecurity division had been protected from the layoffs.

“As we look at the rising cost, understand that security teams are being asked to do more with less,” he said.

“We need to develop new talent in the industry. We also need to develop efficiencies the same way the attackers develop efficiencies so that we can reduce costs.”

Mr Henderson said there were shortages in the US and Asia – which includes Australia – and also where there were rising incident rates.

“Rather than focusing on only or predominantly American financial services clients, what you’ve seen is a pivot to Asia as well as Australia. Think of this as business expansion, rather than replacement.”

Australian telecommunications giant Optus revealed in September that about 10 million customers had personal data stolen in a cyberattack. This week, hackers have broken into at least 12 Australian companies using a sophisticated campaign that compromised online education.

Chris Hockings, chief technology officer for IBM Security Australia and New Zealand, told The Australian Financial Review that the Asia-Pacific, which includes Australia, was the most targeted region in the world for the first time in 2022.

“IBM’s growth in cybersecurity services has reflected that trend in Asia-Pacific,” he said.

Mr Hockings said banks faced the most hostile threats of any sector.

“Those industries where cyberattacks cause financial losses or those that are subjected to regulatory penalty, have shown the greatest interest.”

The Australian Cyber Security Centre’s latest annual threat report showed that between July 2021 and June 2022, there were almost 13 per cent more cybercrime reports than in the previous financial year.

At IBM’s cybersecurity headquarters, known as X-Force, in Boston, Massachusetts, more than 13,000 businesses have undertaken training and planning exercises to prepare for a cyberattack since 2016.

Senior X-Force security architect Jennifer Szkatulski said IBM was working to recreate an organisation’s “worst fears” to better prepare them for how to handle the expected increase in attacks.

The author visited Cambridge, Massachusetts, courtesy of IBM.

Comments are closed.