According to a new report from the World Economic Forum, the increasing complexity of the cyber landscape creates significant implications for organizations and world nations.
The report, Global Cybersecurity Outlook 2025, found that the complexity stems from the rapid growth of emerging technologies, prevailing geopolitical uncertainty, the evolution of threats, regulatory challenges, vulnerabilities in supply chain interdependence and the growing cyber skills gap. The complexity adds to cyber inequity, the report found, deepening the divide between developed and emerging economies and widening the gap between large and small organizations.
“Cyberspace is more complex and challenging than ever due to rapid technological advancements, growing cybercriminal sophistication and deeply interconnected supply chains. The Global Cybersecurity Outlook equips leaders with essential insights to navigate these challenges and strengthen cyber resilience,” Jeremy Jurgens, managing director of the World Economic Forum, said. “Collaboration between public and private sector stakeholders is paramount to secure the benefits of digitalization for all.”
According to the report the key factors driving the complexity and unpredictability in the cyber landscape are supply chain risk interdependencies, geopolitical tensions, intelligence age security, the evolution of the threat landscape, regulations and workforce challenges.
The report said 54 percent of large organizations identify supply chain interdependencies as the greatest barrier to achieving cyber resilience, and one in three CEOs said cyber espionage and the loss of sensitive information or intellectual property theft as their top concern. Another 45 of cyber leaders said they are concerned about the disruption of operations and business processes. Artificial Intelligence is also a factor, with 66 percent of organizations expecting AI to have a major impact on cybersecurity, while only 37 percent reporting that they have processes in place to assess the security of AI tools before deployment.
“C-suite leaders must adopt a security-first mindset from the outset to confidently navigate these challenges with cybersecurity as an enabler that keeps our businesses and organizations resilient,” Paolo Dal Cin, global lead at Accenture Security, said.
The report calls for a change in perspective from cybersecurity to enhanced cyber resilience and focus on the ability to mitigate the impact of significant cyber incidents on an organization’s goals and objectives.