The starting point for this blog was an excellent Top 10 list of current CISO concerns from Royce Markose, the CISO at VISTRADA. See the original post here.
It reflected a lot of the conversations we are currently having with Australian cybersecurity leaders, and added further insight to our December 'Evolving role of Australian CISOs' blog available here. So we have expanded on the list with insights drawn from our conversations in the Australian market.
Moving through 2025, the cybersecurity landscape in Australia continues to evolve at an extraordinary pace. At Insicon, our conversations with CISOs and security leaders across the country have revealed consistent themes that align with global trends but have distinct Australian characteristics - beyond a love/hate relationship with Vegemite.
Here's our take on the top 10 concerns keeping security leaders awake at night-and how forward-thinking Australian organisations are addressing these challenges.
In our recent discussions with Australian CISOs, we've noticed a growing tension around artificial intelligence. While many are eagerly deploying AI capabilities to strengthen their security operations and address the talent shortage, they're simultaneously grappling with the governance implications.
We're seeing AI as both our greatest ally and potentially our most significant blind spot," shared one CISO from a major Australian online retailer during a recent roundtable.
This sentiment echoes across sectors, with 67% of Australian organisations identifying cyber risk as their number one priority over the next 12 months.
The key for Australian security leaders is finding the right balance: leveraging AI's benefits while implementing practical, no-nonsense governance models that align with our unique regulatory landscape. Without proper controls, shadow AI adoption will inevitably create even greater security challenges. We are actively engaged with many organisations about the best approach to AI adoption and governance in alignment with the Voluntary AI Safety Standards (VAISS).
The explosive growth of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) applications has created significant visibility challenges for many Australian organisations. During recent client conversations, we've consistently heard that maintaining security oversight of departmentally-adopted cloud services has become extraordinarily difficult.
This challenge is particularly acute in Australia's mid-market, where IT teams are often stretched thin and lack dedicated cloud security resources. Each new SaaS platform introduces potential vulnerabilities, data governance issues, and compliance challenges that may go undetected until a breach occurs.
Our clients are increasingly looking to us on implementing comprehensive cloud security strategies that include robust access controls, data protection measures, and continuous monitoring of SaaS environments-often leveraging their existing Microsoft or Google investments to maximise value. In a recent 'Gain Visibility into Cyber Risk' webinar Matt Miller, co-founder and CEO of Insicon and Andrew Philp, Field CISO at Trend Micro explored the critical role of visibility in managing today’s evolving cyber risks, and offered practical steps to take - including taking advantage of Trend's complimentary Cyber Risk Assessment as a starting point.
We've observed a fundamental shift in the Australian cybersecurity mindset from prevention alone to resilience-acknowledging that breaches are inevitable and focusing on minimising their impact. This approach recognises that organisations must be prepared to detect, respond to, and recover from incidents quickly and effectively.
This shift aligns with what we're seeing in our Tabletop and Cyber Simulation engagements, where Australian organisations are increasingly focused on testing their ability to maintain operations during and after cyber incidents. Resilience requires not just technical controls but also well-tested incident response plans and regular simulations to ensure teams are prepared when-not if-a breach occurs.
The interconnected nature of modern business ecosystems has made third-party risk management increasingly complex for Australian organisations. With supply chains growing more intricate and digital transformation accelerating, our clients report feeling vulnerable to breaches originating from partners and vendors.
This concern is particularly valid in the Australian context, where many organisations rely heavily on overseas technology providers while needing to comply with increasingly stringent local data sovereignty requirements. Our discussions with boards reveal growing anxiety about their ability to effectively manage these risks.
Effective third-party risk management requires a comprehensive yet practical approach that includes rigorous vendor assessments, continuous monitoring, and clear security requirements in all contracts and agreements-areas where many of our clients are seeking guidance.
Ransomware remains one of the most persistent and damaging threats facing Australian organisations. What makes this threat particularly concerning is its constant evolution-there are now more organised ransomware operations than ever before, with increasingly sophisticated tactics.
Recent cyber risk assessments have found that many Australian organisations still have significant gaps in their ransomware defences, particularly around backup testing and recovery capabilities. With the Australian Government's regulatory framework proposing substantial penalties for non-compliance, the stakes for organisations have never been higher.
Total Addressable Market (TAM) complexity-or more specifically, the challenge of managing visibility over an ever-expanding attack surface-continues to frustrate Australian CISOs. As organisations adopt more digital technologies, their attack surface grows exponentially, making comprehensive security coverage increasingly difficult. Our recent 'Gain Visibility into Cyber Risk' webinar goes deeper into this area.
This challenge is compounded by the fact that many Australian organisations use dozens of different security tools, leading to potential gaps and inefficiencies in their security posture. The result is often a fragmented approach to security that leaves vulnerabilities unaddressed.
Our most successful clients are focusing on consolidating and optimising their security tools, implementing comprehensive asset management, and adopting a risk-based approach to prioritise security efforts where they matter most. Insicon starts any engagement with a considered understanding of each organisation's individual cyber risk with our Risk Assessment service.
The cybersecurity talent shortage continues to pose significant challenges for Australian organisations of all sizes. Our conversations with security leaders reveal that building and maintaining teams capable of addressing the full spectrum of security needs remains a persistent challenge.
This talent gap is particularly acute in specialised areas such as cloud security, threat hunting, and security architecture. The shortage forces many security teams to operate in a perpetual state of overextension, potentially missing critical threats or vulnerabilities.
We're seeing innovative Australian organisations address this challenge through a combination of strategies: upskilling existing staff, leveraging managed security services, engaging fractional or virtual CISOs, implementing automation where appropriate, and creating attractive workplace cultures that help retain valuable security talent.
Despite the escalating threat landscape, many Australian CISOs face the challenge of flat or only marginally increasing security budgets. This creates a difficult balancing act-needing to do more with the same or only slightly more resources.
Our discussions with Australian security leaders reveal a growing focus on demonstrating the business value of security investments. Successful CISOs are addressing this challenge by quantifying cyber risks in business terms, demonstrating the ROI of security investments, and aligning security initiatives with broader business objectives to secure necessary funding. Our focus on Board and Executive Leadership Cyber Advisory has been critical in gaining focus from an upskilled Board.
The proliferation of cybersecurity regulations and frameworks has created significant compliance challenges for Australian organisations. CISOs must navigate an increasingly complex regulatory landscape that includes ISO/IEC 27001, the Security of Critical Infrastructure (SOCI) Act, Essential Eight, APRA CPS 234, and many others.
Research reveals that 50% of Australian CEOs are not confident in their organisations' ability to comply with critical infrastructure regulation, contrasting with 65% of CISOs who express confidence-highlighting a significant perception gap at the executive level.
Forward-thinking organisations are implementing integrated governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) approaches that streamline compliance efforts and provide a unified view of their regulatory posture. Insicon has developed a Managed Compliance service to specifically alleviate the burden of compliance monitoring and management, which allows each organisation to focus on what they do best - running their business
Despite progress in board-level cybersecurity awareness, many Australian CISOs still struggle to effectively communicate security concepts and risks to non-technical executives. This communication gap can lead to misaligned priorities, insufficient resources, and inadequate support for critical security initiatives.
Our board advisory work has shown that organisations increasingly view cybersecurity as a key differentiator for competitive advantage, with 67% of Australian executives citing customer trust as a primary driver (compared to 57% globally). However, translating technical security concepts into business language remains a crucial skill for security leaders.
Effective CISOs are focusing on quantifying cyber risks in financial terms, using clear metrics and visualisations to illustrate security trends, and framing security discussions around business outcomes rather than technical details.
As these challenges demonstrate, the role of the CISO has never been more complex or more critical to organisational success. At Insicon, we understand these challenges and work closely with security leaders to transform data into actionable insights that close cyber gaps and build resilience.
Our approach combines independent cyber security intelligence, governance advisory, tailored simulation exercises, CISO-as-a-Service offerings, and comprehensive risk assessments to help organisations navigate the evolving threat landscape with practical, no-nonsense solutions.
By partnering with Insicon, organisations gain access to deep cybersecurity experience and pragmatic, results-driven solutions tailored to their specific needs. Together, we can address these top concerns and build a more secure and resilient future for Australian businesses.