Armis 2026 Cyberwarfare Report Highlights Gaps Between Security Confidence and Readiness

Summary

Armis surveyed 1,905 IT decision-makers: 79% said their organizations were prepared for cyberwarfare, yet 50% reported inadequate security following an attack. Skills shortages and ransomware costs compound the readiness gap.

Key points

Censuswide surveyed 1,905 IT decision-makers at companies with at least 1,000 employees across six countries between November 24 and December 8, 2025.
Despite 79% reporting cyberwarfare preparedness, 50% said their organizations had not adequately secured their ecosystems following an attack.
Some 54% reported an AI-generated or AI-led attack in the previous 12 months; 43% said significant attacks were detected and addressed only as they occurred or afterward.
Although 78% reported increased investment in AI-enhanced security tools, 55% lacked expertise to implement and manage them, and 54% cited insufficient budget and resources.
The report found that 52% of organizations said their average ransomware payout exceeded their annual cybersecurity budget.
Phishing and spear-phishing were the most commonly reported techniques regularly bypassing security tools, cited by 32%, followed by credential theft and advanced ransomware variants at 27% each.
Armis recommends validating readiness through detection-time measurements, continuous breach and attack simulation, and pressure-testing AI defenses; the survey findings reflect respondents' assessments rather than independently verified incidents.

Article Details

Publisher: Armis
Report Period: 2026 edition; survey collected 2025-11-24 to 2025-12-08
Scope: Cyberwarfare readiness, AI-related threats, ransomware costs and security operational gaps across large organizations in six countries.
Sample Size: 1,905 IT decision-makers at companies with 1,000+ employees; research conducted by Censuswide.
Key Statistics: 79% of surveyed organizations said they were prepared to handle a cyberwarfare attack, while 54% reported being impacted by an AI-generated or AI-led attack in the preceding 12 months.
50% of surveyed organizations reported being unable to adequately secure their ecosystems following an attack.
55% of surveyed IT decision-makers said they lacked the expertise to implement and manage AI-powered security solutions effectively, a five-percentage-point increase year-on-year.
52% of surveyed organizations said their average ransomware payout exceeded their annual cybersecurity budget.
43% of surveyed organizations detected and responded to significant attacks reactively: 27% as attacks occurred and 16% after they had occurred.
Recommendations: Validate readiness using objective Mean Time to Detection measurements rather than subjective confidence.
Use real-time Breach and Attack Simulation instead of relying on static annual assessments.
Red-team AI defenses against machine-speed evasion techniques.
Use immutable backups and zoning to support ransomware resilience.
Continuously map assets and dependencies and prioritize remediation using contextual exposure and real-world risk.