Chantelle Ralevska never saw herself as an entrepreneur. The cybersecurity expert spent her early career at some of Australia’s largest corporations, working from within to learn everything she could about cybersecurity.
“I absolutely fell in love with the area,” she tells Women’s Agenda. “It felt like everything I was good at it too: problem solving, communication, creativity, being able to work with different areas of the business, and of course, working within technology and cybersecurity.”
While working inside large organisations, Ralevska witnessed something that bothered her: large companies could afford a dedicated staff member or team to train staff on cybersecurity risks, but smaller organisations with fewer resources had no access to this expertise at all.
What also became clear to Ralevska was that many businesses, regardless of their size, had little awareness of the escalating cybersecurity threats they faced and often no idea that support even existed.
According to a 2019 survey by the Australian Cyber Security Centre, almost half of small to medium businesses rated their understanding of cybersecurity as ‘average’ or ‘below average’, and had poor cybersecurity practices.
It’s an issue that Ralevska is working to solve as the founder of Psyber. Psyber delivers staff training, online learning, board and C-suite level education and customised programs for a business’ specific risks.
“That was really my mission for starting my business, to fill that gap and to be accessible to all businesses, not just massive companies, and be able to bring this knowledge of best practice to a broader range of businesses,” she says.
Ralevska’s recent clients range from major corporations and universities to four-person charities, a diversity she says is a testament to the broad impact of cybersecurity across industries and business profiles.
“Often people think about the technical side when we talk about cybersecurity, but actually, the human component is so important and so critical,” Ralevska says.
“Over 95% of data breaches are because of human error”.
Demand for Psyber’s services have grown quickly since its launch in early 2024, especially as businesses increasingly realise the urgency of needing to be prepared to face cybersecurity threats.
Ralevska says awareness among businesses is growing, but the threats they face are also becoming more sophisticated.
“There's so many businesses that don't have access to the function [of mitigating human risk in cybersecurity],” she explains.
“It's so critical. And if we're looking at a smaller business, it's even more critical for them. They might not have the budget for much else, [but] that training can really make a huge difference.”
Why we need more women in cybersecurity
In Australia, women make up just 17% of the cybersecurity workforce, a reality that Ralevska is conscious of as a founder in the industry.
When she recently spoke at her former high school, many of the Year 10 girls she was addressing asked the same question: ‘What is cybersecurity?’
“If they don't even know it exists, how can they see themselves in the field in the future?” she tells Women’s Agenda.
It’s common to see women bring valuable skill sets from various study pathways and careers into cybersecurity, Ralevska shares. And we need to see more of it.
It’s an observation backed by RMIT research, which revealed women in the industry tend to come from a wider spectrum of educational backgrounds than their male colleagues.
“There's huge value to having more women in the industry,” she says.
“We've seen some women who come from different disciplines, like law or communications or PR and bring a set of different skills.”
The tough but essential lessons of entrepreneurship
As a founder, Ralevska doesn’t pretend her road to establishing and maintaining her business has been easy.
“Business is so hard,” she reflects. “One of the main things I've learned is that your success is no one’s responsibility but your own.”
“That's a harsh lesson, but in the beginning, I met with so many people, and I took all of their advice on board, and I really valued everyone else's opinion over my own, and it just pulled me in so many different directions.
“It wasn't until I thought, ‘what do I know is best for the market?’ And ‘what do I know businesses need?’ that I really saw a shift in how my business was performing.”
But on the other hand, Ralevska acknowledges it’s quite possible to learn about and fill almost any gaps, especially if you’re passionate about what you do.
“There's so much information available to us on the internet now that there is nothing you can't learn if you wanted to,” she said.
Ultimately, entrepreneurship is about problem solving and “moving the needle forward” for Ralevska. That was always her intention with Psyber from the outset.
“That was really the reason I started Psyber. It was to solve this problem and to do it in a way that helps businesses and helps individuals, because cybersecurity impacts all of us.”
