Professionalisation was explored, revisited, and reconsidered. AISA’s journey reflects not opposition, but the careful weighing of complex questions over time.
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A man faked his way into cybersecurity leadership — not because the system lacked rules, but because no one cared to check his credentials. Professionalisation won’t fix that.
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When six organisations out of 220 steer government policy, the question is not whether professionalisation is necessary — but whether it is legitimate.
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ACN’s State of the Industry 2024 report states that “69 per cent of businesses have experienced a ransomware attack” (p. 21 and 27).
This is obviously an error – 1,837,468 Australian businesses were not hit by ransomware in 2024 or ever. Yet, this error is now ironically being repeated:
The Information Age writes “Of the 69 per cent of businesses hit by ransomware in the past five years, the ACN observed a staggering 84 per cent opted to pay the ransom” and “the average ransom payment climb to $1.35 million” omitting to think this would have cost the Australian economy upwards of 2 trillion dollars and no one noticed.
Tech Business News writes “69% of businesses hit by ransomware in 2024” failing to conclude that this would amount to 5034 ransomware incidents per day.
Marty McCarthy from LinkedIn writes “69% of businesses hit by ransomware last year”.
Jason Murrell writes “69% of Australian businesses hit by ransomware[.] 84% paid… average payment? $1.35M!”
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Professionalisation is haunted by spectres: contradictory evidence, uncertain promises, unresolved concerns, lingering doubts, incomplete solutions, false closure, unseen exclusions, and past scandals.
This essay aims to call out these spectres so they can be examined in themselves but more importantly so that their influence on how we’re approaching professionalisation can be properly examined.
We do not summon the spectres, and even if we choose to ignore them, they still exist.
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