Recent findings from a survey conducted by Team Cymru underscore a significant gap in the execution of cybersecurity strategies among organizations. The survey, which involved 121 information security leaders, aimed to assess the effectiveness of current cybersecurity initiatives and was initiated online on April 17, 2025. It revealed that 50% of security practitioners experienced a major security incident in the past year, with 72% attributing mitigation success to their threat hunting programs.
Despite rising budgets for cybersecurity, only 38% of respondents reported having a complete, real-time understanding of threats outside their organizations. While 45% rated their visibility as “good,” this indicates a concerning lack of comprehensive threat awareness essential for effective operational readiness. The report highlights critical issues such as insufficient real-time threat intelligence, identified by 45% of participants, and challenges in integrating external data with internal systems, noted by 42%.
AI-enabled threats were cited as the most pressing concern, with 22% of respondents ranking them as the highest emerging risk. Ransomware and vulnerabilities in cloud services followed closely, noted by 20% and 17% of participants, respectively. CEO Joe Sander emphasized the importance of external visibility in decision-making, stating that many security teams lack the necessary insight to effectively counter evolving threats.