Optiv Report Finds Increased Cybersecurity Incidents, Strategic Budget Shifts as Organizations Combat Evolving Threat Landscape
Based on an independent Ponemon Institute survey, the report reveals 79% of respondents say their organization is making changes to its cybersecurity budget. Of these respondents, 71% say security budgets are increasing, with the average budget at $24 million. This correlates with the heightened volume of threat vectors, with 66% of respondents reporting cybersecurity incidents have increased significantly or increased in the past year, up from 61% in 2024.
Download Optiv's 2025 Cybersecurity Threat and Risk Management Report: https://www.optiv.com/insights/discover/downloads/2025-cybersecurity-threat-and-risk-management-report
The report also highlights a notable shift in how organizations determine their cybersecurity budgets, with 67% now using risk and threat assessments to inform budget decisions, up from 53% in 2024. This move toward data-driven decision-making comes as organizations increasingly turn to managed security service providers (MSSPs), with outsourcing to MSSPs jumping from 47% in 2024 to 58% in 2025, particularly for cloud security guidance.
"The data clearly shows a concerning trend: despite increases in cybersecurity budgets and resources, organizations continue to face more frequent attacks," said John Hurley, Optiv's chief revenue officer. "What's promising is the shift toward more strategic, data-driven approaches to budget allocation and the growing adoption of MSSPs to extend capabilities, particularly as organizations work to better understand their security vulnerabilities within the threat landscape."
Additional key findings include:
AI and Machine Learning Adoption Accelerating: Forty-six percent of respondents say their organizations use AI/ML to prevent cyberattacks, with 88% of these respondents incorporating generative AI at some level. The primary drivers for AI/ML adoption are improving operational efficiency (41%) and maintaining competitive advantage (40%).
Automation Transforming Response Times: Fifty-seven percent of respondents report automation has reduced the time to respond to vulnerabilities, with 34% seeing significant improvements, highlighting automation's transformative role in cybersecurity operations.
Vulnerability Management Challenges: Nearly three in four respondents (74%) identify a lack of understanding of every potential source of vulnerability as their biggest challenge to effective vulnerability management.
SASE and SOAR Implementations Growing: Sixty-six percent of respondents say their organizations have fully or partially implemented Secure Access Service Edge (SASE), while 72% continue to significantly or moderately use Security Orchestration, Automation and Response (SOAR) to reduce cyber threats.
Effectiveness of Cybersecurity Incident Response Plans (CSIRPs): Fifty-one percent of respondents say their organizations have a CSIRP applied consistently across the entire enterprise, up from 46% in 2024. The effectiveness of CSIRPs in minimizing the consequences of cybersecurity incidents has increased from 50% of respondents in 2024 to 57% of respondents in 2025.
"Our independent research for Optiv reveals that organizations are making strategic investments in technology, processes and people to combat increasingly sophisticated threats," said Dr. Larry Ponemon, chairman and founder of the Ponemon Institute. "The growing adoption of AI, machine learning and automation technologies signals a significant shift in how organizations approach cybersecurity defense, focusing on both prevention and rapid response capabilities."
Findings from Optiv's report are based on responses from 620 U.S.-based IT and IT security practitioners familiar with their organizations' strategies to manage threats and risks.
For the latest news and updates from Optiv, visit https://www.optiv.com/newsroom.
Optiv Security: Secure greatness. ®
Optiv is the cyber advisory and solutions leader, delivering strategic and technical expertise to nearly 6,000 companies across every major industry. We partner with organizations to advise, deploy and operate complete cybersecurity programs from strategy and managed security services to risk, integration and technology solutions. With clients at the center of our unmatched ecosystem of people, products, partners and programs, we accelerate business progress like no other company can. At Optiv, we manage cyber risk so you can secure your full potential. For more information, visit www.optiv.com.
About Ponemon Institute:
Ponemon Institute is dedicated to independent research and education that advances responsible information and privacy management practices within business and government. Our mission is to conduct high quality, empirical studies on critical issues affecting the management and security of sensitive information about people and organizations.
We uphold strict data confidentiality, privacy and ethical research standards. We do not collect any personally identifiable information from individuals (or company identifiable information in our business research). Furthermore, we have strict quality standards to ensure that subjects are not asked extraneous, irrelevant or improper questions.
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