2021 Gallagher Cyber Insights Report on Australian businesses

Against a background of dramatically escalating security threats to Australian businesses as cyber criminals exploit the greater attack surface provided by changed conditions, we deliver the Gallagher Australia 2021 Cyber Insights Report as a valuable resource to help local businesses improve their defences and gain practical knowledge.

Driven by our time-honoured focus on understanding our clients’ business concerns and exposures Gallagher Australia asked respondents to rate their levels of confidence in their current approaches to cyber security and risk minimisation. We received responses from more than 600 businesses nationally, providing a representative view of Australia’s preparedness and cyber defence levels.

The data insights captured in this survey are depicted in ranked diagrams measuring business’s confidence in their cyber strategies in four key areas of operations, with corresponding advice on how they can improve their cyber risk management to minimise their exposures.

This expertise from our Cyber/Technology Practice specialists offers best practice solutions to cyber security problems, how to better prevent them and how to best to prepare for ongoing cyber challenges.

The report also covers the role of cyber insurance and the protections that it can deliver, including assistance with navigating the claims process.

Key cyber risks for Australian businesses

The key areas of cyber risk covered in the report include the following.

Internal vulnerabilities

Less than half of our survey respondents were confident that their business conducts regular, up to date cyber security awareness training with all members of their teams.

Remote workforce

Given many businesses have a highly active remote workforce that is flexible and often transitions between working in the office to working from home, employees pose an especially high risk to maintaining consistent and secure cyber security measures.
 

Utilising baseline cyber mitigation strategies

As the numbers of attacks have risen dramatically in the past year the Australian government has warned of the need for all businesses to be prepared, with the right defences and recovery resources in place.

Vendor risk

When focusing on an organisation cyber criminals will often look for vulnerabilities in their vendors’ security systems as a way into their target’s network since supplier networks can be more vulnerable than those of the desired target.

Tools and testing and best practice

While new cyber security tools and strategies are constantly being introduced to address emerging cyber risks, we report on tried and true measures to ensure your organisation is one step ahead of cyber criminals.
 

Confidence in protection

Cyber insurance covers your business’s liability in the event of a cyber security breach affecting you or your customer, employee and or contractors’ information.

Access the full 2021 Gallagher Australia Cyber Insights Report

Further reading

Cyber insurance broker

Cyber resilience for survival of full scale attacks against Australian businesses
 

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