A third of Australian organisations suffered security breach last year finds survey

Lack of interest from C-suite and director level the biggest security challenge facing businesses

One third (32%) of Australian organisations have suffered a security breach in the past 12 months, according to findings from the 2016 Security Exhibition & Conference Industry Survey.

Following major security breaches by global companies such as LinkedIn this year, the Security Industry Survey shows that Australian organisations are far from immune and still have a long way to go in protecting their data and their customers. This finding was made more concerning by the fact that only three quarters of respondents (78%) said that their organisation had a security incident plan in place. Three quarters (74%) of respondents, however, said that their organisation monitors social media for potential threats to security.

These findings are part of an annual industry survey of security professionals attending the 2016 Security Exhibition & Conference from July 20 to July 22, Australia’s premier security industry event. The 2016 Security Exhibition & Conference Industry Survey, which takes its findings from 260 respondents, looks at the challenges and opportunities for the security industry.

Lack of support for security from the C-suite

The biggest security challenge facing Australian organisations is a lack of interest from CEOs and directors, according to respondents who believed this to be the primary challenge for their organisation. Time and resource pressure continues to be a hurdle for most organisations, with respondents rating ‘time-poor’ as one of the other biggest challenges for them.

Security 2016 event manager, Alanna Phillips, said, “The security industry survey is a plug into the challenges and opportunities facing all security professionals in Australia today; from installers and integrators to end users and consultants. These are the big issues for security leaders and the future direction of the security industry.”

Survey identifies skills gap, staff shortages, civil conflict and cyber threats

Staff and staff training was rated as being the most important security concern for companies during the next 12 months, with 70 percent of respondents indicating it was either important or extremely important. This was followed closely by surveillance (63%), civil conflict and public safety (62%), and data breaches and cyber security threats (60%).

Australian organisations are closely monitoring their important assets, with 83 percent of respondents saying that their organisation’s valuable assets are covered by video surveillance. CCTV and surveillance was deemed to have the greatest growth potential to the business, ranked as one of the top three security products or services with the most growth potential by 67 percent of respondents. Integration and networking (46%), mobile access and remote management (42%), and IP security (38%) were ranked closely behind as security technology with growth potential.

Home automation was seen as the trend in security technology most important to protecting business and ensuring business efficiencies.

Lack of sales training, government regulation and cyber security threats were seen as the three top professional challenges faced by survey respondents today. These were followed by the convergence of physical IT and security, a lack of technical training, and lack of time and flexibility day-to-day as other important professional challenges.

The 2016 Security Exhibition & Conference will be held at the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre from July 20 to July 22, offering Australian security professionals the opportunity to discuss and find solutions for the ongoing challenges and opportunities facing organisations today.