Exclusive: Splunk reveals why only 4% of organisations are cyber ready

Only 4% of organisations are fully cyber ready, according to the 2025 Cisco Cybersecurity Readiness Index, highlighting persistent gaps in talent, infrastructure, and data strategy that leave businesses exposed to fast-moving cyber threats.

During a recent interview, Marc Caltabiano, Vice President for Splunk across Australia and New Zealand, said the company's recent global initiatives aim to give organisations "an AI ready view so that we can actually start to understand and decipher" complex data.

He pointed to the new Cisco Data Fabric as a tool to transform everything from factory sensor readings to store sales data into actionable insights.

"If you're able to identify patterns at the lowest level of information, it allows organisations to act and not just rely on business systems of record," he said.

Strengthening public sector cybersecurity

Splunk has doubled down on its public sector role through a partnership with the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD).

A new plug-in integrates Splunk Enterprise Security with ASD's Cyber Threat Intelligence Sharing (CTIS) platform, enabling two-way intelligence sharing at machine speed.

CTIS, mandatory for Australian federal government agencies from July 2025, allows government and industry partners to receive and share information about malicious cyber activity. The plug-in allows Splunk's public sector customers to meet regulatory requirements while strengthening detection and accelerating incident response. Splunk is the second company to launch this CTIS integration.

"The integration with ASD equips our customers with the intelligence to protect essential services and respond decisively as attacks grow in speed and sophistication," Caltabiano said.

The plug-in is also available to private sector organisations, including critical infrastructure operators, providing an easier way to participate in national threat sharing.

As part of its commitment to the public sector, Splunk has achieved an IRAP PROTECTED assessment for Splunk Observability Cloud, marking its 20th IRAP-assessed offering. This gives government agencies confidence that the platform meets the highest security standards while supporting modern observability practices.

Cyber readiness is still lagging

Despite these initiatives, cyber readiness remains stubbornly low. The Cisco Cybersecurity Readiness Index statistics show:

• 2024: 3% of organisations were in the mature stage of readiness
• 2025: 4% reached the mature stage of readiness
• A further 26% were considered in a "progressive state" of readiness.

"There hasn't been a lot of change year on year," Caltabiano said, admitting a shortage of cybersecurity talent, insufficient investment, and ageing infrastructure as primary barriers.

"The majority of those surveyed said it was really the shortage of talent which was the biggest threat. Organisations need to invest effectively."

AI, observability, and federated data

Caltabiano highlighted the value of observability alongside cybersecurity.

"Quite often a system performance issue may be an indicator that something is happening. Being able to leverage observability across the board and tie that in with security use cases is really important," he said, emphasizing that embracing agentic AI could help organisations modernise and strengthen security operations.

Federated search for Snowflake, another recent Splunk innovation, allows integration of structured and unstructured data without duplicating storage. "This builds a bridge between operational machine data and business data," he said.

AI also automates mundane SOC tasks like incident reporting and minimum recording requirements, freeing staff to focus on improving detection and response while safeguarding AI models themselves.

Why talent and investment are the missing links 

Talent shortages and infrastructure weaknesses remain major hurdles for AI-driven security projects.

"Quite often these projects are dependent on people making the changes," Caltabiano said. "Companies need to increase investment in cybersecurity and not treat it as an insurance policy."

Splunk also aims to attract new talent through internship programs and by showcasing the opportunities available in cybersecurity.

What are the key takeaways for ANZ?

At the recent .conf conference in Boston, Caltabiano highlighted three key priorities for ANZ organisations: federated data access including Snowflake, Cisco Data Fabric, and agentic AI across security operations and observability. "We're confident in the capabilities we're bringing to the ANZ market," he said.

"If we're not staying ahead, we're not going to keep up. Combining AI, observability, and robust data frameworks enables organisations to detect, investigate, and respond to cyber threats faster and more decisively."