Corporate cyber budgets on the rise
The rapid advances in artificial intelligence are forcing an increased corporate focus as 84 per cent of security and finance leaders expect cyber budgets to increase — up from 78 per cent last year — according to PwC’s 2027 Global Digital Trust Insights Survey.
Nearly 4,000 business and tech executives across 71 countries and territories, were involved in the survey.
It found that as frontier AI models are rolled out, 58 per cent of security leaders rank AI in their top cyber budget priorities for the year ahead.
PwC said: “This comes as less than two-fifths (39 per cent) of security, risk and operations leaders have a fully formalised and integrated operational continuity plan that specifically addresses cyber-risks altogether.
“When asked specifically about the cyber threats organisations are least prepared to address, half (50 per cent) of security leaders identify attacks targeting AI systems among their top threats — ahead of cloud-related threats (40 per cent), third-party breaches (34 per cent) and ransomware (33 per cent).”
Chris Mills, partner, risk advisory, PwC Bermuda, said: “Cybersecurity needs to be embedded in C-suite decision-making from the outset. The survey shows that many organisations remain underprepared for an increasingly complex and fast-changing cyber landscape. Organisations that strengthen cyber readiness today will be better equipped to adapt, innovate and compete with confidence.”
Anthony Fellowes, director, digital, PwC Bermuda stated: “AI is reshaping both sides of the cyber equation. While it introduces new risks and broadens the attack surface, it also has the potential to significantly enhance how organisations defend themselves. The challenge is not whether to adopt AI, but how to do so in a way that builds confidence, strengthens security and delivers meaningful business outcomes.”
PwC said that even with rising frontier AI vulnerabilities, companies have only implemented, on average, three out of seven key data-risk measures across their organisations. What’s more, only 5 per cent of those surveyed have fully implemented every data risk measure surveyed — down from 7 per cent last year.
While one-third (33 per cent) of CEOs and security and risk leaders say their organisations have established dedicated AI roles, including a chief AI officer or AI board, less than half strongly agree that cyber-risk is a standing agenda item at the board level (47 per cent) or at executive leadership meetings (45 per cent).
PwC said if organisations are to insulate their businesses against rapidly evolving AI and cyber threats, they must strengthen cyber governance, accountability and risk decision-making and protect critical operations and build cyber resilience.
The report said companies must secure data, AI and emerging technology, and, manage ecosystem, third-party and technology concentration risk.
In addition, they must use trusted technology and data to create enterprise value and build the model to effectively leverage agents to defend against agent-enabled attacks.
• For more on the PwC report, Moving targets: Cybersecurity in a dynamic digital world, see Related Media
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