The leader of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu's Asia Pacific security services group, Kevin Shaw, told ZDNet Australia the idea of cyber attackers destroying vital infrastructure with the touch of a few buttons is a "fallacy".
At the same time however, he says, the softness of targets in the private sector could represent a genuine threat. If an attacker can break into an airline's booking system, for example, they could create major headaches.
"That can stop aircraft from taking off," he said.
Shaw says while security is much closer to the forefront of the public mind, it's possibly due to an improvement in public awareness rather than an increase in the number of security-related incidents.
"You wonder if it's more incidents out there or people just know what to look for," he said.
He said that while companies were no doubt facing a range of security issues, they were unlikely to detail them.
"You can guarantee that's on the go. [But] it's not broadcast," Shaw said. "That's the hottest issue we've got - we have to convince companies that they're a part of our critical infrastructure".
Director and founder of data security company b-sec, David Reeves, agrees, and cites examples.
"Qantas would have to say they're a part of critical infrastructure, so [would] Virgin," he said.
Reeves says a worrying trend is the stagnation of security-related technologies. There has been no cure-all breakthrough in the field of security.
"There is no new silver bullet... the technology is roughly the same [as a year ago]," he told ZDNet Australia.
