New Research Reveals Australia's Global Security Leadership Masks Dangerous Governance Gaps

Australia built third-party governance backwards. "Better than average" isn't "good enough."

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, January 6, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Kiteworks, which empowers organisations to effectively manage risk in every send, share, receive, and use of private data, today released its Data Security and Compliance Risk: 2026 Forecast Report—a comprehensive analysis revealing that Australian organisations lead global benchmarks across nearly every security metric, yet that leadership obscures dangerous blind spots that attackers, regulators, and competitors won't ignore.

The research, based on a survey of 225 security, IT, compliance, and risk leaders across 10 industries and 8 regions, reveals a paradox: Australian organisations consistently outperform global averages by 10-20 percentage points—in AI controls, supply chain security, compliance automation, and third-party governance. But "better than average" isn't the same as "good enough." When 43% of organisations still lack AI anomaly detection despite being world leaders in AI adoption, and 74% sit outside EU AI Act scope with no pressure to match emerging global standards, relative advantage isn't absolute protection.

"Australia's security leadership is genuine—our organisations outperform global benchmarks across the board. But leadership measured against lagging averages creates false confidence," said Kieran O'Shaughnessy, Managing Director, APAC, Kiteworks. "The data shows Australian organisations have built third-party governance backwards: strong on advanced monitoring at 52%, but weak on foundational data classification at just 30%—13 points below the global average. You can't protect what you haven't classified. That imbalance will be exposed in 2026."

The report identifies five predictions for Australian organisations in 2026:

1. AI adoption will outpace controls, leaving a sizeable attack surface. At 57%, Australia leads the world in AI anomaly detection—yet 43% of organisations still operate AI workloads without this fundamental control. High adoption without high coverage is high risk.

2. Third-party governance will remain skewed: strong monitoring, weaker basics. Australia leads on continuous vendor monitoring (+17 points vs. global) and secure data exchange (+13 points)—whilst trailing on data classification (-13 points) and external identity management (-5 points). The advanced controls are undermined by the basic controls that have been neglected.

3. Supply chain controls will leave half the estate uncovered. SBOM management at 48% is nearly double the 28% global average—but 52% still lack coverage. Zero-trust deployment at 52% means 48% still deploy software based on implicit trust. Half covered isn't leadership; it's liability.

4. EU AI Act blind spot will keep Australian AI governance 20-30 points behind the emerging baseline. 74% of Australian organisations sit outside EU AI Act scope. Organisations impacted by the Act are 33 points more likely to have AI impact assessments, 26 points more likely to enforce purpose binding, and 22 points more likely to implement human-in-the-loop controls. Without voluntary adoption, Australian organisations carry a permanent governance deficit.

5. Compliance automation will stall at "good enough." 57% policy-as-code adoption leads global benchmarks—but 43% still lack end-to-end automated compliance. In an era when regulators expect continuous evidence, partial automation leaves exactly the high-risk channels governed by manual processes.

The risk is complacency. Australian organisations have earned their reputation as regional leaders, but the attackers, regulators, and competitors shaping 2026 won't grade on a curve. They'll exploit the 48% without SBOM coverage, the 74% outside EU AI Act scope with no pressure to adopt its controls, and the 43% running AI workloads without full technical safeguards.

The global report, which includes 15 predictions across data visibility, AI governance, third-party risk, and compliance automation, identifies "keystone capabilities"—unified audit trails and training-data recovery—that predict success across all other metrics, showing up to 32-point advantages for organisations that have implemented them. Australia's strong performance demonstrates that these capabilities are achievable; the gap is in extending coverage from "most" to "all."

"Australian organisations should measure against coverage targets, not global averages," said O'Shaughnessy. "Set internal targets based on actual threat exposure and regulatory expectations: 80%+ AI anomaly detection, 90%+ SBOM coverage, EU AI Act controls as a design baseline regardless of legal scope. The organisations that recognise Australia's head start as an opportunity to achieve actual coverage—not just relative advantage—will be positioned for 2026. Those that celebrate beating averages whilst leaving half their estate exposed will learn that 'better than global' was never the right benchmark."

Download the full 2026 Forecast Report here and the Australian brief on the report here.

About Kiteworks
Kiteworks' mission is to empower organisations to effectively manage risk in every send, share, receive, and use of private data. The Kiteworks platform provides customers with a Private Data Network that delivers data governance, compliance, and protection. The platform unifies, tracks, controls, and secures sensitive data moving within, into, and out of their organisation, significantly improving risk management and ensuring regulatory compliance on all private data exchanges. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, Kiteworks protects over 100 million end-users and over 1,500 global enterprises and government agencies.

David Schutzman
Kiteworks
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