Why Australia's Cybersecurity Market is Booming? The CISO's View with Joe Cozzupoli

Joe Cozzupoli analyses Australia's booming cybersecurity market, the critical talent shortage, and how businesses can navigate escalating threats and complex regulations

What if Australia's rapid embrace of cloud, AI, and remote work has inadvertently built the perfect breeding ground for cyber threats? This digital acceleration, while driving efficiency, has created an attack surface expanding faster than many organisations can defend.

To understand this implications, we spoke with Joe Cozzupoli, an experienced CISO, to dissect the forces shaping Australia's cybersecurity landscape. He breaks down the catalysts for industry growth, the persistent challenges for businesses of all sizes, and the critical role of regulation and talent in building a more secure future.

Interview with Joe Cozzupoli

Why is the cybersecurity industry growing so quickly in Australia?

From a CISO’s perspective, the growth comes from a mix of rapid digitisation, escalating threats and increasing regulation. Australia has moved quickly towards cloud, SaaS, AI and remote work, and sectors such as mining, energy, health and logistics have brought OT and IT environments together. This has expanded the attack surface at a speed many organisations cannot match. At the same time, cybercrime remains relentless, with very high volumes of incidents and reports each year.

The Australian cybersecurity market is also expanding quickly. Analysts estimate the local market to be worth several billion dollars and forecast that it will continue to grow at double-digit rates. Many organisations simply cannot hire enough in-house specialists to meet operational demand, which drives strong growth in consulting, managed security services and advisory work. Government ambition is another catalyst.

Australia has committed to becoming “the most cyber secure nation by 2030”, through its National Cyber Security Strategy, supported by major investments, uplift programs and obligations for critical infrastructure. High-profile breaches and a very active data breach reporting regime have also pushed boards to treat cyber as a core business risk rather than a technical project.

What are the biggest challenges Australian companies face when it comes to cybersecurity?

A few challenges consistently stand out.

1. Executing the basics at scale. Many incidents still begin with preventable issues such as unpatched systems, weak identity controls or insufficient logging. National reporting continues to highlight exploitation of known vulnerabilities and business email compromise as leading causes of harm.

2. Shortage of skilled professionals. Demand for security talent continues to rise faster than supply. Government and private sector surveys show widespread difficulty in recruiting and retaining cyber specialists, particularly in architecture, cloud security and incident response.

3. Complex technology environments. Organisations now manage hybrid cloud, multiple SaaS platforms, legacy systems and growing OT networks. This creates inconsistency, tool sprawl and operational inefficiency.

4. Third-party risk. A significant proportion of data breaches now originate from suppliers or digital service providers. Many high-profile breaches in Australia have involved outsourced partners rather than the organisation’s own perimeter.

5. Translating cyber risk into business risk. Boards want clarity on material exposure, financial impact and the investment plan. Many cyber teams still struggle to move beyond technical metrics and present cyber risk in business language.

How have recent cyberattacks influenced government and business investment in cybersecurity?

Recent cyberattacks have shown how easily a single breach can disrupt national services, privacy, business continuity and public trust. Incidents affecting aviation, telco, health, legal and financial services have introduced significant political and regulatory pressure, as well as high financial and reputational impact. In response, the Australian Government has strengthened cyber policy. This includes the National Cyber Security Strategy, reforms to the Privacy Act, expanded obligations under the Security of Critical Infrastructure Act and tighter expectations around incident reporting. The Government has also allocated hundreds of millions of dollars to uplift national resilience, support critical sectors and improve coordination.

For businesses, the shift is equally significant. Boards are approving larger multi-year programs focused on identity uplift, network modernisation, cloud security, resilience, recovery planning and incident readiness. Cyber insurance requirements have become stricter, and underwriters now expect MFA, patching discipline and robust incident response capability as minimum standards. Cybersecurity investment is now seen as an essential cost of doing business, not an optional one.

Is there enough local talent to meet the demand for cybersecurity professionals in Australia?

Not yet. Although the workforce has grown, demand still outstrips supply. Government data indicates strong multi-year growth in cyber and ICT security roles, but also highlights persistent shortages across the public and private sectors. Skills gaps are especially acute in cloud security, architecture, OT security, incident response and governance. As a result, organisations increasingly rely on managed services, near-shore or global delivery models, and internal upskilling pathways.

Some companies are bringing professionals from IT, operations or risk into security roles and training them internally. From a CISO’s perspective, the challenge is not only quantity. It is finding the right mix of engineering expertise, architectural capability, cloud knowledge, risk understanding and communication skills.

How are small and medium-sized businesses in Australia dealing with cybersecurity risks compared to larger organisations?

Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) face the same kinds of threats as large enterprises, but with fewer resources. Many rely heavily on cloud defaults and managed service providers, which means their security posture is often shaped by the quality of those configurations. They typically focus on a smaller control set such as MFA, backups, patching, endpoint protection and basic awareness training. Financially, SMBs are often at higher risk. Business email compromise and ransomware cause significant losses, and SMBs tend to have less buffer to absorb disruption. National reports show that small businesses experience high average financial losses per incident.

Larger organisations have more structured governance, dedicated security teams and the ability to invest in monitoring, red-teaming, resilience planning and supply chain assessment. Their challenge is complexity. SMBs’ challenge is capacity. A positive development is the rise of virtual CISO arrangements, which allow SMBs to access strategic security leadership without full-time cost.

What role does government regulation and policy play in shaping Australia’s cybersecurity industry?

Regulation and policy play an essential role in defining expectations, shaping investment and driving uplift across the economy.

• The national Cyber Security Strategy sets the overarching direction and funds programs designed to strengthen resilience.

• Privacy legislation and the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme require organisations to protect personal information and publicly report incidents, which keeps cyber risk firmly on the board agenda.

• The Security of Critical Infrastructure Act imposes mandatory cybersecurity and operational risk obligations on operators of essential services.

• APRA CPS 234 sets strict security requirements for financial institutions.

• Guidance from the Australian Signals Directorate, including the Essential Eight Maturity Model, has become a de facto baseline for many sectors.

From a CISO standpoint, regulation is no longer a compliance checkbox. It is a strategic lever that helps secure funding, justify uplift and align business priorities with national expectations.