Credit: Dreamstime
Don’t always turn to overseas companies if you’re seeking local security help, that’s the view some local security experts shared during a recent media round table lunch.
Aura Information Security Australia country manager, Michael Warnock, expressed his frustration at companies turning their attention overseas for security providers when there’s a locally strong security market.
“I get frustrated when organisations go overseas because they think that’s where the solution is,” Warnock said. “We have a very robust ecosystem of organisations in Australia that can help with anything from a one man band to local government, and I stress to organisations to look locally to see where they can get help. This will help shape the future of cyber in Australia.”
According to AustCyber, there are about 500 security companies in the Australian economy, which AustCyber has touchpoints with about 300 of them and makes up a top 40 list
“Those companies are at varying degrees of maturity, but around 80 of them are considered to be high performing globally competitive companies that are exporting what they do in products or services,” AustCyber CEO Michelle Price said.
“Part of my role is to champion that those capabilities exist and how they can be used by local organisations whether they’re one-person companies or large enterprises.”
“We know that the message that needs to be delivered to organisations, is that no one else partners like Australian cyber security specialists -- because it is not transactional," Price said. "We do it because of the context of our customer -- more than any other place globally. The other factor is that no one else has local knowledge of the economy like locals do.”
Warnock also highlighted that companies shouldn’t shy away from sharing their ‘cyber war’ stories.
“We’ve got to move from this competitive nature. If you’re seeing something that has hit your business, or you’ve done something in your business that has worked, share those insights with the industry. That’s a great way to mature what we’re doing,” Warnock said.
Principal advisor of cyber security and response at Ecosystm, Carl Woerndle was a victim of cyber attack so severe, he lost his business four years ago.
“It’s one of the few crimes where the victim gets blamed. You come out publicly about your experience with being a cyber victim in the hope of imparting knowledge and what people need to improve, but they look at you in a negative light -- it’s hard to speak about it, and they get crucified for it,” Woerndle expressed.
“I think we need to be better at listening to people that have been through the experience and learning. From what I’ve seen, there is not a lot of collaboration in that space.”
