Cybersecurity Awareness Month: 3 Critical Moves for Australian Partners in 2025

The Australian Signals Directorate’s Australian Cyber Security Centre (ASD’s ACSC) has released its latest figures for the 2024–25 financial year, revealing a significant uptick in cyber threat activity across the nation. 

• Over 42,500 calls were made to the Australian Cyber Security Hotline - a 16% increase 

• The ACSC responded to more than 1,200 cybersecurity incidents, marking an 11% rise 

• The ACSC issued over 1,700 notifications to organisations about potentially malicious cyber activity - an 83% increase 

• Average self-reported cost of cybercrime per report for businesses, up 50% overall  

These figures serve as a stark reminder of the importance of proactive cyber defence measures, and it’s for good reason that Australia has sharpened its national cybersecurity posture through the 2023–2030 Cyber Security Strategy, the Cyber Security Bill 2024, and the SOCI Act. Businesses are being called to shift from compliance to accountability. For partners, this is more than a policy update; it’s a call to lead. 

We asked Dicker Data’s cybersecurity experts to weigh in on how these changes are shaping the landscape and what partners should prioritise right now. Here are the top three things partners should be thinking about.

1. Identity is the New Perimeter 

George Guirguis, Business Manager – Cybersecurity & Presales (Cisco & Pure Storage), says the most practical alignment with national strategy starts with identity. 

“Protect identity before infrastructure. Every major breach starts with compromised access - your people are the new perimeter. Invest in Zero Trust, MFA, continuous verification, and incident readiness; these are no longer optional. Treat cybersecurity as a business resilience enabler, not an IT expense. The leaders who act now will be the ones still standing after the next major attack.” 

Key Actions: 

• Promote Zero Trust architectures and MFA as foundational, not optional. 

• Encourage clients to follow the ACSC Essential Eight as a living checklist. 

We have partnered with a range of industry-leading cybersecurity solution vendors that provide Zero Trust architectures and solutions aligned with the ACSC Essential Eight framework. These partnerships empower you to build resilient, compliant environments with solutions trusted by industry leaders. Explore our vendors here. 

2. Cyber Risk Exposure Management is the New Standard 

James Ticehurst, Cybersecurity Presales Specialist, highlights the growing need for Cyber Risk Exposure Management (CREM). 

“Business leaders need providers who simplify complexity while reducing the cost burden of protection. It’s important to have a solution in the kit bag that clearly addresses Cyber Risk Exposure Management. This includes identifying risks across the entire attack surface, which goes beyond endpoints, email, cloud, and infrastructure. It should also provide advice and recommendations to reduce those risks. In some cases, the solution can even automate the deployment of recommended improvements, making risk reduction more efficient and scalable.” 

Key Actions: 

• Conduct regular risk assessments across their entire attack surface, not just endpoints and email. 

• Offer CREM solutions that identify, quantify and automate risk reduction. 

• Ensure clients in Critical Infrastructure sectors (as defined by the SOCI Act) understand their obligations and have tailored strategies. 

This guidance supports one of our key pillars to achieving true data resiliency, prevention and detection. Explore our trusted vendors ready to help you turn these action points into outcomes here. 

3. Strengthen the Human Firewall 

Cybersecurity isn’t just technical, it’s behavioural, as Steve Rutter, Business Development Manager, explains. 

“Humans are still the weakest link in cybersecurity. Businesses must train staff to recognise threats like phishing and spear phishing, backed by regular simulations. Many vendors offer tools and services to assess employee readiness and build stronger defences.” 

Key Actions: 

• Run phishing simulations, MFA-fatigue drills, and penetration testing to build real-world resilience. 

• Offer vendor-led training and maturity assessments to elevate end-user awareness. 

• Position cybersecurity as a business enabler, not just an IT cost. 

Are you equipping your customers with cyber awareness and training tools they can deploy across their teams? We have several vendors who offer excellent training and awareness solutions. Please reach out to our team to find out more.  

Dicker Data’s Practical Strategies for Partners 

Ready to turn cybersecurity challenges into growth opportunities? Here are Dicker Data’s practical strategies to help partners lead with resilience and deliver real business outcomes. 

1. Strategic Positioning Opportunity 

Position data resiliency as a business enabler, and lead with outcomes (uptime, recoverability, compliance) 

2. Deliver Outcome-Based Solutions

Move from product resale to solution selling and build packaged services around business continuity  

3. Managed Services & DRaaS

Drive recurring revenue through managed offerings when you offer Backup-as-a-Service, DRaaS, and ransomware recovery plans.

4. Multi-Cloud & Hybrid Readiness

Your customers operate across environments, so architect scalable, cloud-agnostic solutions   

5. Cyber-Integrated Resiliency

Security and resiliency must be unified so bundle data protection with zero trust  

Explore our Data Resiliency Solutions here. 

Cybersecurity is a team sport; how do we address this together? 

So, what does it take to make cybersecurity a true team sport? Here’s the advice from one of our experts, Darryl D’Costa, Solution Specialist. 

“Assume you will be breached and plan accordingly! Invest in resilience (not just prevention). Test & Update incident response plans, don’t just write it up and save it on OneDrive. Prioritise Visibility & Control across all endpoints, users, and data flows. Make security a part of the organisation's culture! Regular training, beyond annual tick-box exercise, e.g. phishing simulations. Leaders should also be involved and model the behaviours you want all employees to adopt; walk the talk. Personalise the risk, help everyone understand how Cyber affects them wherever they are, home or work, to build natural motivation.”  

The opportunity for partners is clear: simplify complexity, reduce vendor sprawl, and build resilient, identity-first architectures that support real-world outcomes. In a landscape where AI is both overused and under-regulated, customers need safeguards, not just innovation. Partners who lead with identity, risk management, and human resilience will be the ones shaping meaningful change in 2025 and beyond. We’re here to help! Reach out to our Dicker Data team to strengthen your customers' cybersecurity posture. 

Read some of our other resources here: 

Bridging the Cybersecurity gap 

Navigating the SMB1001 Cybersecurity Framework with your customers