Report frames cyber resilience as a visibility and response problem, not just a matter of stronger perimeter defenses.

According to a recent cyber trend business report, many organizations polled appeared to be defending only the most obvious parts of their digital estates, while a large share of assets remained less visible and less protected.

EY’s latest cybersecurity insights survey has found that 36% of assets across surveyed organizations were in a “vulnerability zone” with below-average visibility and cyber coverage, based on a survey spanning 840 leaders in 17 sectors and 128 countries in March 2026.

The numbers suggest that the real risk is not a single weak point, but the accumulation of blind spots across systems, identities, devices and third-party connections.

For example, 43% of surveyed leaders had cited using automated methods to identify and inventory assets, and 45% were “confident” their inventories were complete and current. That implies many security teams in the survey may still be working from incomplete maps of their own environments, even as AI tools make vulnerability discovery faster and more scalable.

The findings also point to a timing problem. If adversaries can move from discovery to exploitation more quickly, then manual processes, fragmented ownership and delayed updates become a bigger liability. In that context, preparedness is not only about having stronger defenses, but about knowing where those defenses need to be applied before an incident starts.

The survey data further suggests that resilience now depends on protecting the core operations needed to keep a business functioning during a disruption — not just the most valuable assets on paper. That means visibility, segmentation and rapid response are becoming as important as traditional perimeter defense.

The report offers a compelling reading of the data, although its chosen framing naturally steers attention toward the risks it is designed to highlight. A fuller disclosure of sampling and analytical choices would make it easier to separate what the data clearly show, from what the narrative emphasizes.