"We are going to see a shift from it being an IT problem, a technical problem, to something that is more encompassing, where everyone has a part to play in cyber security," Mr Onibere said.

"So it's now beginning to move from a technical problem to something of a strategic concern for top management. It poses significant concern to the both the survival and the thriving of organisations.

As part of the federal government's Cyber Security Strategy, which was unveiled in April, it estimated the cost of cyber crime to Australians at up to $17 billion a year, or 1 per cent of gross domestic product.

Businesses are being forced to spend more to combat a growing number of threats and the 2015 Australian Cyber Security Centre study of major Australian businesses found 56 per cent had increased their expenditure on cyber security in the past 12 months, a significant jump from 2013, when only 27 per cent of respondents reported an increase.

Telstra chief information security officer Mike Burgess says Telstra hires cyber security staff that come from a variety of backgrounds. Ben Rushton

Increasing threats

But despite the efforts of businesses to combat cyber criminals, Venafi chief information officer Tammy Moskites said the number of threats would continue to increase.

"[In five years] I don't think we'll be better off in terms of a lower number of attacks and breaches. They will continue to escalate and continue to be there. It's not if you're going to be breached, it's when," she said.


"The monetary loss in being able to recover will be similar in nature, but the challenges will be... how you respond and what the brand reputational impact of dollars and cents will be."

Both the federal and Victorian governments have given a bigger focus to cyber security in the last year, with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull dedicating $230 million to building up the country's capabilities and defences.

The state Labor Party has also made it a priority to establish Melbourne as a cyber security hub, spearheaded by Small Business, Innovation and Trade Minister Philip Dalidakis.

Mr Dalidakis, who was also a part of Monday's forum, wants the city to be ranked within the top five places in the world for cyber security businesses.

Some industry experts expressed concern that Australia would not have enough cyber security graduates to fill the increased demand these initiatives will drive, but Telstra chief information security officer Mike Burgess and NAB CISO Andrew Dell said some of the best security experts did not need to have a technical backgrounds.

"You can find young guys and young girls that just have a very curious mind who are very intelligent, but not necessarily from an IT background," Mr Burgess said.

"We have a program where we bring young guys and girls in and we don't necessarily look to recruit in our own image, we just find very smart people. One of our best discovery analysts is a 19-year-old female who chose not to go to university... if she wants to, we'll fund her to go there."

Mr Dell said the industry needed to do a better job of marketing what it means to be a cyber security professional.

"It's about making it an obvious choice when you're are at school," he said. "So much can be brought to bear by people having another perspective."