NetApp has published a new report analyzing the state of cybersecurity and offering actionable insights to help organizations strengthen their cyber resilience. The Futurum Group study, ‘Cloud, Complexity, AI: The Triple Threat Demanding New Cyber Resilience Strategies’, sponsored by NetApp, provides a comprehensive analysis of evolving cyber threats and cyber resilience strategies.
The study, which surveyed over 1,300 cybersecurity leaders across industries worldwide, reveals that more than 54 percent of organizations experienced a cyberattack in the past 12 to 18 months, with one in five unable to recover lost data. The report highlights the urgent need for enterprises to leverage intelligent data infrastructure to address growing risks posed by sophisticated threats, operational complexity, and the challenges of hybrid multi-cloud environments.
Other key findings:
Cloud security risks
Misconfigurations and vulnerabilities in hybrid multi-cloud environments are now among the top threats, outpacing traditional attacks like ransomware. As organizations rely increasingly on hybrid cloud infrastructures, addressing these vulnerabilities is critical to maintaining data security and operational continuity.
Tool sprawl challenges
70 percent of respondents use more than 40 cybersecurity tools, with 84 percent citing operational complexity as a major inhibitor to cyber resilience. This complexity creates protection gaps and inefficiencies, underscoring the need for tool consolidation and integrated solutions to streamline operations.
AI in cybersecurity
40 percent of organizations are leveraging AI for threat detection, with plans to expand its use for automating response and recovery. AI’s ability to identify and mitigate threats at scale is powerful, but balancing its use with managing false positives and ensuring robust human oversight is essential to its success.
Data classification is key
Organizations with strong data classification frameworks recover from attacks more effectively, emphasizing its role as a cornerstone of cyber resilience. This underscores the importance of embedding intelligent data infrastructure that not only classifies and protects data but also enables real-time anomaly detection and resilient recovery, enabling business continuity even in worst-case scenarios.
Increased investment
Over 90 percent of respondents plan to increase cybersecurity spend in the next 12 to 18 months, focusing on integrated and proactive solutions. Proactive investment can address the rising cost of cyberattacks and the growing complexity of threats, ensuring resilience and operational trust.
