• A rising number (72%, up from 56% last year) of Australian respondents have had to report an act of cyberwarfare to authorities, the most of any country surveyed for this report
  
• 77% of Australian IT professionals believe the ability of nation-states to harness AI for cyber operations will widen the gap between attackers and defenders

Armis, a cyber exposure management & security company, is warning Australian organisations to immediately increase their proactive cybersecurity operations in response to the rise in cyberwarfare attacks targeting local businesses.

This alert comes as 81% of Australian IT decision-makers express concern about the potential for nation-state actors to use AI to develop more sophisticated and targeted cyberattacks.

“Geopolitical tensions, AI acceleration, and unresolved security gaps are colliding, bringing the state of cyberwarfare to a boiling point,” said Nadir Izrael, CTO and Co-Founder of Armis.

“Cyberwarfare is now a constant condition; attackers are operating at machine speed, while too many organisations are still trying to defend themselves with assumptions and structures built for a very different threat landscape,.”

“Organisational leaders must heed the call and immediately enhance their proactive cybersecurity operations before it’s too late.”

New findings from Armis Labs’ fourth annual global Cyberwarfare report, A World Under Pressure: Cyberwarfare in an Age of AI-Fueled Escalation, show how quickly a high-stakes, high-tension moment is building globally and across regions, with Australia in one of the most critical positions.

Fears are widespread, with 84% of IT decision-makers based in Australia saying the cyber capabilities of nation-state actors have the potential to instigate a full-scale cyberwar that could cripple critical infrastructure worldwide.

73% believe the convergence of AI, quantum, and other emerging technologies will create an unprecedented escalation in cyber conflict capabilities, while 77% believe GenAI is challenging the geopolitical status quo by enabling smaller nations to emerge as near-peer cyber threats.

73% of respondents from Australia said their organisation experienced a cybersecurity breach 1-2 times and 59% say their organisation has still not managed to secure their ecosystem adequately following an attack.

This challenge is exacerbated by the 45% of Australian businesses that admit they respond reactively to a significant cyberattack, either as it occurs or after it has already occurred.

Australia-based respondents (62%) were the most likely to say of any IT decision-makers surveyed globally that nation-states would never target their organisation, despite the significant rise in cyberwarfare attacks reported to Australian authorities year-over-year.

Additionally, although Australian respondents (73%) were the most of any group surveyed to believe the idea of “Mutually Assured Disruption”—that nations avoid major cyberattacks due to shared vulnerability—still acts as an effective deterrent today.

They’re also the most likely (84%) to say their organisation has evolved its cyberwarfare readiness posture over the past three years to strengthen defenses against nation-states.

“As a nation, Australia remains critically under-prepared for the escalating cyber threats we currently face, exacerbating the vulnerability of our digital and economic landscape,” said Zak Menegazzi, Cybersecurity Specialist, ANZ, Armis.

“Traditional security approaches that are reactive, fragmented, and blind to the full attack surface are obsolete. Organisations must urgently prioritise proactive measures to build resilience against the threat of AI-powered cyberwarfare.”

Additional key findings from respondents based in Australia:

• 62% said their organisation delayed, stalled or stopped digital transformation projects due to the threat of cyberwarfare, halting innovation.
  
  
• 70% said that their organisation was impacted by an AI-generated or AI-led attack over the last 12 months, the most of any country of respondents surveyed.
  
  
• 95% of IT decision makers in Australia are concerned about the impact of cyberwarfare on their organisation as a whole.
  
  
• 86% of Australian IT pros say cyberwarfare threats increasingly target unmanaged or supply chain assets not visible to traditional security tools.
  
  
• Australian respondents (66%) were the most likely to say that their organisation’s average ransomware payout exceeds its annual cybersecurity budget.
  
  
• The average cost of a ransomware payment in Australia in 2025 was US$15,390,000, up from $8,610,059 the prior year.
  
  
• Australian IT decision-makers (70%) had the most confidence of any country of respondents in their government to defend its citizens and enterprises against an act of cyberwarfare.

The 2026 Armis Cyberwarfare Report is based on a study of more than 1,900 global IT decision-makers – including 200 respondents from Australia – and proprietary data from Armis Labs