On Monday 25 March, Council of Small Business Organisations Australia and Cyber Wardens will release new cutting-edge research from over 2,000 Australian small businesses. The research deep dives into the cultural and attitudinal drivers that work to help uplift the cyber posture and resilience of small businesses, helping them to respond to this threat.
Australian small businesses face cyber security threats every day. Yet many owners, CEOs and employees don’t believe their small business could be a target. The belief that being small makes you safe, is a dangerous fallacy leading to inaction on cyber safety.
This is a national launch of the new Cyber Wardens research, and small businesses have been invited to participate in this important discussion about bolstering the cyber capabilities of Australian small businesses.
COSBOA CEO Luke Achterstraat will launch the research and will be joined by an expert panel to discuss insights and lessons for the small business sector.
Following the launch of the research, attendees can contribute to the design of the next Cyber Wardens resources to support building a culture of cyber safety in Australian small businesses.
Key insights from the research
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50% of Australian small businesses see cyber security as a high risk to their business in the next five years, while conversely, 45% see cyber security threats as a low to non-existent risk, highlighting the significant divide in attitudes around cyber risks.
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7 in 10 (67%) small business owners/CEOs and employees said major cyber attacks on big companies have made them think more about cyber security, however, this isn’t necessarily translating into small businesses doing more to protect themselves.
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About 4 in 10 (38%) small businesses still think it’s much more important for medium and larger businesses to practise cyber security than it is for small businesses, and a further 3 in 10 (28%) are on the fence about this.
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Small businesses are open to learning simple, practical ways to make their businesses more cyber safe. Almost nine in ten (86%) expressed a keen interest in a program that simplifies cyber security and makes it achievable for businesses of all sizes.
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Most small businesses (61%) are not talking about cyber security regularly, which further increases the risk they face. Only a third (35%) of small business owners/CEOs and employees feel vulnerable to attack due to being a small business.
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Many small businesses are unprepared to respond to cyber threats. On average, 4 in 10 small businesses have little to no confidence in their ability to:
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Fight a cyber incident (44% no confidence or low confidence)
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Recover from a cyber incident (40% no confidence or low confidence)
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Prepare for a cyber incident (37% no confidence or low confidence)
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Know where to get help when a cyber incident occurs (31% no confidence or low confidence)
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Gaps in basic cyber safety create significant vulnerability
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Multi-factor authentication is absent in 50% of small business cyber defences. Only 46% of small businesses are protecting their email accounts with MFA, 50% of small businesses are protecting their cloud and social media accounts with MFA, and 57% of small businesses are protecting their financial services accounts with MFA.
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Half of small businesses lag in software patching efforts. One in two (52%) small businesses are keeping their digital doors locked by ensuring software vulnerabilities are patched through automatic software updates on computers and devices.
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While 6 in 10 (60%) small businesses have taken steps to protect data and important business systems, only 5 in 10 have a daily backup system to help recover from a cyber attack (50%) and are backing up important information securely each day (53%).
Cyber Wardens is a national initiative of the Council of Small Business Organisations of Australia (COSBOA), supported by the Australian Government and an industry alliance led by Telstra, CommBank and the Australian Cyber Security Centre, to help protect Australia’s 2.5 million small businesses from online threats. The program builds a culture of cyber safety and creates cyber skills within Australian small businesses. The eLearning training course takes just 45 minutes to complete on any device, is free to all Australian small businesses and you don’t have to be tech-savvy or an IT wizard to understand it. The Cyber Wardens program launched in November 2023 and will train 50,000 Cyber Wardens over the next three years.
