Australian CISOs feel unsupported

Nearly all (98%) Australian CISOs are struggling to get the support from the wider organisation required to be resilient against cyber threats, according to research published by Trellix.

Nearly half (48%) of respondents to a survey conducted for the research agreed that their jobs would be easier if employees were better aware of the challenges of cybersecurity, while 40% report that a lack of skilled talent on their team is a major challenge.

The report also found that 74% of Australian respondents feel fully or mostly accountable when their organisations experience a cybersecurity breach.

CISOs are also dealing with high-pressure situations, with 84% having managed a major cybersecurity incident at least once. Meanwhile, 45% have experienced significant attrition from their security operations team as a result of a cybersecurity incident.

Australian organisations meanwhile report using an average of 29 individual security solutions, the highest average globally, with 36% identifying having too many sources of information as a significant impediment to doing their jobs.

Trellix Managing Director for ANZ Luke Power said these findings suggest that security leaders are working with too many of the wrong security tools.

“Australians continue to be at risk as a consequence of security operations teams not having the tools required to carry out efficient cybersecurity protection,” he said.

“CISOs are operating in an extremely pressurised environment that virtually has no off-time, often leading to feelings of being unheard, invisible and unsupported.  Recently, Australia has emerged as a highly vulnerable target for cybercriminals, and thus CISOs and their teams being ill-equipped to face cyber attacks is a recipe for further large-scale breaches.”

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