Although there was a slight improvement in the ASX 200's security rating, it was driven by post-incident security fixes, not proactive strategy
HOBART, Australia, May 20, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- UpGuard, a leader in cybersecurity and risk management, released its annual ASX 200 Cybersecurity Report, which measures the cyber risk exposure of Australia's largest listed companies. Based on daily scanning of billions of data points, UpGuard benchmarked external security posture on a 0–950 scale, finding the average score for the ASX 200 was 728.5 in 2025, equating to a B rating, and showing a 1.58 percent improvement from 2024. However, the report also found that 10 percent of the ASX 200 had active, verified infostealer infections. In addition, the research identified a trend where security scores typically remain stagnant until a major global security issue, such as the CrowdStrike outage, triggers a brief spike in remediation activity. However, these reactive security improvements often subside within months as organizational priorities shift.
