Can you finance a cyber security upgrade for your business?

You can finance much of a cyber security upgrade. Hardware such as firewalls, backup appliances, replacement computers and network gear usually suits technology equipment finance or a lease, and setup labour can often ride on the same invoice. Subscriptions and managed services are ongoing costs, so they’re paid from cash flow or wrapped into an unsecured business loan.

Most small business owners don’t wake up wanting to spend money on cyber security. They get there because an insurer asks awkward questions at renewal, a supplier is hit by ransomware, a client demands evidence of controls, or the IT provider finally puts a number on what it would take to do things properly. That number often lands with a thud. This guide breaks it into parts and shows how each part is usually funded. For the broader product, see technology equipment finance.

What does a cyber security upgrade usually include?

Every business is different, but most upgrade quotes from an IT provider mix three kinds of cost:

Item	Type of cost	Usually financeable as equipment?
Business-grade firewall or router	Hardware	Yes
Backup appliance or local storage device	Hardware	Yes
Replacement PCs and laptops (old, unsupported devices)	Hardware	Yes
Network switches, secure Wi-Fi access points	Hardware	Yes
Installation, configuration, migration	One-off labour	Often, if on the hardware invoice
Staff training session	One-off service	Sometimes
Endpoint protection, email filtering licences	Subscription	No
Cloud backup service	Subscription	No
Managed security or monitoring service	Ongoing service	No

The pattern is simple: lenders secure equipment finance over things they can identify and recover. The more of your quote that’s hardware, the more of it fits an equipment contract.

Why is this worth spending on now?

Because the cost of not doing it is real and well documented. The Australian Signals Directorate’s Annual Cyber Threat Report 2024–2025 puts the average self-reported cost of cybercrime per report at $56,600 for small businesses and $97,200 for medium businesses, and notes that a cybercrime report was made on average every six minutes.

Those figures don’t include the quieter costs: days of lost trading, staff overtime to rebuild records, customers who don’t come back and the time spent dealing with banks and insurers. Measured against that, a planned upgrade spread over a few years is usually the cheaper path.

There’s a commercial angle too. Larger customers, government buyers and franchise groups increasingly ask suppliers to show basic controls before they’ll sign or renew a contract. Insurers ask similar questions at renewal, and some will decline or load a cyber policy when the answers are thin. A business that can say “yes, we’ve done that, here’s the date” is simply easier to deal with, and sometimes that’s the difference between keeping a major account and losing it.

Think about the knock-on effect on cash flow as well. A business locked out of its systems for a week still has wages, rent and suppliers to pay, while invoices go unsent and payments go unchased. Spending a modest, planned amount now is a way of protecting that cash flow later.

If you’ve already got a quote from your IT provider, start a quick enquiry and we’ll look at how to split it between equipment finance and other funding.

Which finance options fit each part?

Technology equipment finance or chattel mortgage. Best for the hardware: firewalls, backup appliances, new PCs and network gear. You own the equipment and the lender secures over it. Because tech loses resale value quickly, terms tend to be short. See equipment finance.

Technology lease. You pay to use the hardware over a set term and return or upgrade it at the end. Suits businesses that want to refresh security hardware on a cycle, since firewalls and backup devices age too.

Unsecured business loan. Typically $5k to $500k, sized on turnover and bank statements. This is the usual answer when the project is heavy on labour, licences and services, or when you’d rather have one facility for the whole thing. See unsecured business loans.

Cash flow for subscriptions. Monthly services are best treated as a running cost, budgeted like rent or insurance.

The government’s guidance on applying for a business loan suggests working out the maximum repayment you can afford first. For a cyber project, add the new monthly subscriptions to that calculation, because they’ll be running alongside the repayments.

Illustrative example

Illustrative. A building supplies business with 22 staff and two sites has its email compromised. A fake invoice nearly goes to a customer before someone spots it. The insurer asks for stronger controls before renewal, and the IT provider quotes the following:

• new business-grade firewalls at both sites, a local backup appliance and eight replacement PCs for machines that can’t run a supported operating system: $41k of hardware;
• installation, configuration and migration: $9k;
• endpoint protection, email filtering and cloud backup subscriptions, plus a monitoring service: a monthly fee.

The business puts the hardware and installation, both on the provider’s invoice, on a three-year chattel mortgage secured over the equipment. The monthly services are added to the operating budget. The owner also takes a modest unsecured loan to cover a staff training program and some overdue network cabling the equipment lender wouldn’t include. The insurer renews, and the owner has a clear record of what was done and when. Just as importantly, the repayments are known in advance and sit comfortably inside the monthly budget, instead of a single large invoice landing in the same quarter as the BAS.

What should you ask your IT provider for?

A clear quote makes the finance much easier. Ask for:

1. Hardware listed separately with make, model and quantities.
2. One-off labour for installation, configuration and migration on the same invoice as the hardware.
3. Subscriptions and services quoted separately as monthly or annual costs.
4. Which existing devices can stay and which genuinely need replacing.
5. A priority order in case you want to stage the project.

Many of the biggest gains, such as multi-factor authentication, regular patching and tested backups, cost relatively little. If old, unsupported computers are part of the problem, our guide to funding a PC refresh after Windows 10 end of support covers that piece in more detail.

How do tax and insurance fit in?

Tax first. Hardware bought for the business is normally depreciated over its effective life. Smaller items may qualify for an immediate deduction if your business is eligible for simplified depreciation: for the 2025–26 income year the ATO’s instant asset write-off guidance sets the threshold at $20,000 for each asset. A single firewall or laptop will often sit under that; a whole project won’t be treated as one item. Leasing changes who claims what, so put the question to your accountant before you sign, and check whether the threshold has moved for the current year.

On insurance, keep the invoices, configuration notes and dates. Insurers increasingly ask what controls are in place, and a documented upgrade can make renewal smoother. IT providers themselves can find more on how lenders see their sector on our IT business loans page.

Protect the business without draining the account

Cyber security is one of those costs that only feels optional until the day it isn’t. Spreading the hardware over its useful life, and planning the subscriptions as a normal running cost, means you can do it properly now instead of patching it up after something goes wrong.

Enquiring takes about 60 seconds and there’s no credit check when you first enquire. We won’t hand your details to a pile of lenders or leave you dodging calls. A real person looks at your IT quote and your business, then calls you to talk through how to structure it. Please complete the form accurately, including the full project cost and what’s hardware versus services, so we can match you with the right option straight away.

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