89DE ran a multi-year national survey of Australian small business owners and employees, delivered as an online survey through a commercial opt-in research panel (Pureprofile), with quota management for gender, age and location. A 2023 benchmark was followed by annual waves in 2024 (1,559 participants: 536 owners and 1,023 employees) and 2025 (1,576 participants: 529 owners and 1,047 employees). A consistent weighting framework, based on the market structure of Australian SMEs by employment size (ASBFEO), was applied across all three years for reliable year-on-year comparison. The research also maps businesses to five cyber maturity segments, from 'Unaware and Inactive' through to 'Ready and Resilient'.

The survey reached 1,559 participants in 2024 and 1,576 in 2025, covering both small business owners and employees, weighted to the market structure of Australian SMEs. Findings are published in annual public reports that Cyber Wardens uses to target its free training and support.

Behaviour change takes time, and you can only manage what you measure. Three years of tracking show cyber safety slowly being embedded into the culture of Australian small business: more owners and employees are using strong passwords, talking about cyber security and treating it as a whole-of-team responsibility. But concern still outpaces action, and threats like AI are moving faster than many businesses can keep up with. As a repeatable measure, the Pulse Check shows leaders where progress is real, where risk is concentrated, and which industries need targeted help.