One cybersecurity firm has read the tea leaves, and is pushing for a global upshift in cyber proactivity rather than reactivity

Through a two-part survey of 1,603 IT decision makers and 1,003 IT and cybersecurity professionals respectively* to understand how respondents were confronting escalating cyber warfare  threat levels head-on, some findings were disclosed.

First, 39% of respondents (in the IT leaders group) worldwide indicating a belief that cyber warfare could affect the integrity of an electoral process; 42% believed cyber warfare could target the media. As half of the global population across 76 nations prepare to head to the polls this year, successful state-sponsored cyberattacks and espionage missions could destabilize economies and cripple entire commercial and societal systems.

Second, 60% of the respondents in the IT leaders survey indicated that digital transformation projects had “stalled or stopped entirely due to cyberwarfare risks.” Some 46% citing believing that their nation’s governments were incapable of protecting citizens and organizations from cyber warfare threats.

Third, 46% of IT leaders in the first survey indicated they were unconcerned or indifferent about the impact of cyber warfare: a 13% increase from a similar survey for 2022–23.

Other findings

Another finding from the surveys is that at least 94% of respondents that were IT leaders indicated their organization was considered “prepared to handle cyber warfare and respond to related threats.” Some 6% of the same IT leaders in the survey indicated they were either in the process of developing a cyber warfare plan, or did not have any at all. Also, compared to a similar survey in 2023, there was a 25% drop in the respondents’ board of directors’ active involvement in instilling a culture of awareness and preparedness for cyber warfare.

According to Nadir Izrael, CTO and co-founder, Armis, the firm that commissioned the surveys, global elections will be the largest attack vector for state-sponsored actors looking to cause mass disruption in 2024. “In the biggest global election year in history, democracy is the primary target of (state-sponsored) threat actors…  It’s essential that we immediately shift from a reactive to a proactive, defensive stance before it’s too late,” he said.

The firm asserts that “relying on legacy technologies and manual security processes is the equivalent of bringing a knife to a gunfight, given the threats we’re up against, and the arsenal of (state-sponsored) actors. It is critical that security leaders fight fire with fire, leveraging AI-powered solutions that empower them with actionable intelligence before a vulnerability is announced, before an attack is launched and before their organization is impacted. Forewarned is forearmed.”

To do this, organizations across Australia and New Zealand will, according to Armis, need to urgently shift their cybersecurity strategies from reactive to proactive: “Cyber awareness and readiness must remain at the top of every organization’s list of strategic priorities, as should the deployment of AI-powered technology.” 

*Survey 1 was conducted between 16 Oct and 30 Oct 2023, involving over 1,603 IT decision-makers in France, Germany, Singapore, the UK, and the US. Respondents were working full-time at organizations with over 1,000 employees. Survey 2 was conducted between 20 Feb and 23 Feb 2024, involving 1,003 IT and cybersecurity professionals based across the UK, U.S., Canada, France and Germany. Respondents were from around 14 general categories of industries.