5 Buying Triggers Every Cyber Security Firm Should Watch

Most founder-led cyber firms grow through referrals. Referrals are the best clients you will ever have, but they arrive when they arrive. When delivery gets busy, the pipeline goes quiet, and generic cold outreach rarely fills the gap.

The firms that build a steady pipeline do something simpler: they watch for the moments when an organisation has a real reason to buy security, and they show up while that reason is still live.

1. A disclosed incident

When an organisation confirms a cyber incident, whether in an ASX announcement, a statement to customers or a notification under the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme, priorities change overnight. The first weeks belong to incident response and forensics. The months after belong to remediation: testing, hardening, monitoring and proving to the board that it will not happen again.

The right approach is not to chase the headline. Reach out about the next ninety days, not the breach itself, and only when the incident is confirmed. A ransomware group's claim on a leak site is a signal to watch, not a fact to quote.

2. A new security leader

A newly appointed CISO, CIO or head of security is usually expected to review the security strategy, the existing providers and the gaps in their first months. That review is the window. Once the plan is set and the budget allocated, the conversation becomes much harder.

Appointments are often public: a LinkedIn update, a press release or a mention in the trade press. Contact the new leader with something useful for their first ninety days, not a capabilities deck.

3. Regulatory pressure

Regulation creates deadlines, and deadlines create budgets. Critical infrastructure operators have obligations under the Security of Critical Infrastructure (SOCI) Act. APRA-regulated entities must meet CPS 234 on information security. Government agencies are measured against the Essential Eight.

The trigger is not the rule itself, which has existed for years. It is the moment pressure increases: a regulator signalling closer enforcement, an audit finding, a new reporting requirement or an upcoming deadline.

4. A supplier gets compromised

Some of the most effective attacks reach organisations through a provider they trust: a software vendor, a managed service provider or a remote management tool. When one supplier is compromised, every customer of that supplier starts asking the same questions about third-party access and exposure.

That makes two groups worth contacting: the supplier, which now has to prove its platform is secure, and its customers, which need to review who can reach into their environment.

5. AI adoption and AI incidents

Organisations are deploying AI tools and AI agents faster than they are securing them. Recent incidents, including AI agents reaching non-public data on Australian government portals, have pushed a new question onto the agenda: who controls what these agents can access?

Organisations rolling out AI tools, or reacting to guidance on securing them, are looking for AI security assessments, access reviews and testing against AI-enabled attackers.

How to use triggers well

A trigger only works when it is real and recent. A few rules keep it that way:

• Use confirmed, public information, and nothing older than a few weeks.
• Contact one decision-maker per organisation: the person who owns the problem.
• Put the reason for contact in the first lines, then explain how you help.
• Combine phone, email and LinkedIn, and stop as soon as someone replies or opts out.
• Follow the Spam Act and check numbers against the Do Not Call Register.

Tracking these signals every week takes time, which is exactly why most firms stop doing it when delivery gets busy. Building that habit, or handing it to someone who does it every day, is what turns a referral business into a predictable one.