Australia’s spy agency received more than 100 calls per day to its cybersecurity hotline in 2023-24.
That represents an increase of more than 10 percent from the previous year.
In the same time, the Australian Signals Directorate responded to more than 1,100 cybersecurity incidents, equating to more than three every day.
The threat of cybercrime is growing rapidly for public service organisations and the private sector, and there is now an expectation of enterprise grade cybersecurity measures to be in place at businesses of all shapes and sizes.
But this often is not feasible for smaller companies, due to costs and a lack of resources.
That’s the issue that Canberra-based Cogito Group is trying to combat, offering the high-level cybersecurity once reserved for larger organisations to small and medium businesses in a simple, affordable and scalable platform.
“It gives them access to high-assurance, government-grade security capabilities that were previously only available to large corporations and government agencies,” Cogito Group executive director Bernadette Brown said.
Cogito earlier this year launched SecureSME, providing Certificate Lifecycle Management and Public Key Infrastructure-as-a-Service specifically designed for SMEs.
This includes the core offering of Jellyfish, modular software that provides integrated security in a single interface that can manage credentials, identify devices and automated certificate management.
Cogito Group’s offering aims to solve the huge problem of complex, fragmented and insufficient digital security for organisations of all sizes.
Cogito Group is a finalist in the InnovationAus 2025 Awards for Excellence in the Software Innovation category. The InnovationAus 2025 Awards for Excellence winners and finalists will be celebrated at a black-tie gala dinner at Sydney Town Hall on Thursday, November 27. You can book your tickets here.
The Software Innovation Award is proudly sponsored by KPMG. This award shines a spotlight on software products that are making a difference in fintech, artificial intelligence, machine learning, edge computing or other verticals, and contributing to industry and the wider community.
Being nominated for the award is an “immense honour” for Cogito Group, and a “powerful validation of SecureSME’s mission and technology,” Ms Brown said.
“It signifies that the platform is recognised as a game-changer in the industry, one that is empowering businesses to operate securely and confidently,” she said.
“The nomination validates the team’s hard work and reaffirms that SecureSME is providing a much-needed solution that contributes to a stronger, more resilient digital future not only for Australia, but a global economy.”
Cogito Group was launched in 2011 as a professional services and systems integration business.
Over the years, the company’s leaders continually saw gaps in their clients’ processes, such as a reliance on manual processes, siloed systems and inconsistent security processes, leaving them vulnerable to attacks and data breaches.
They reinvested profits from the business to develop software to address these inefficiencies, eventually leading to the creation of SecureSME.
“The idea for SecureSME was born from a recognition of a critical market gap,” Ms Brown said.
“As a small business ourselves, we’ve built a successful cybersecurity solution for enterprise and government clients. We realised that a significant portion of the market – SMEs – was highly vulnerable to cyber threats due to a lack of affordable and accessible solutions.
“SecureSME was created to fill this gap, providing a powerful, yet simple, security platform that is both accessible and cost-effective for businesses with limited resources.”
The 2025 InnovationAus Awards for Excellence will be held on November 27 at the magnificent Sydney Town Hall. You can secure individual seats or book a table here. Purchase a table of 10 and have your logo displayed on screens across the venue and in the event programme as a ‘Table Sponsor’.
The InnovationAus 2025 Awards for Excellence are proudly supported by ACS, PEXA Group, the CSIRO ON Program, Griffith Hack, TechnologyOne, Q-CTRL, National AI Centre, University of New South Wales, KPMG, AgriFutures Australia, Investment NSW and IP Australia.
Protecting your great ideas with intellectual property (IP) rights can lead to lasting benefits for your growing business. IP refers to creations of the mind, such as a brand, logo, invention, design or artistic work. Head to the IP Australia website to find out more about IP, and how it might help your business.
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