Organizations have experienced oversights in cybersecurity processes and procedures (26%), been forced to put underqualified or inexperienced people into roles to cover them (25%), are lacking the time or resources to train cybersecurity staff (25%), and are dealing with misconfigured systems (24%), according to this year’s study. The report also states
“Another commonly cited (24%) outcome of skills shortages is that parts of the organization are left under-secured and staff are unable to take advantage of emerging cybersecurity technologies (24% each),” the report states.
While the study doesn’t tie security incidents to specific technical domains, the number of incidents shows how capability development has become more critical than simply adding headcount, Marks says.
“AI and cloud security continue to stand out as the most urgent skills needs from both hiring managers and cybersecurity professionals. Nearly everyone in the study reports at least one skills need, and most report significant ones,” Marks says. “That tells us capability development has become more critical than simply adding headcount.”
AI adoption accelerates
The research found that AI adoption is accelerating quickly, with 28% of respondents reporting that they have already integrated AI tools into their operations and 69% involved in some level of adoption, through integration, active testing, or early evaluation.
“What stands out is how fast AI has moved from experimentation into day-to-day operations. More than two-thirds of respondents are already using, testing, or actively evaluating AI tools in their security programs,” Marks explains. “For those who are using them today, the majority are already seeing measurable productivity gains. That tells us that AI is quickly becoming a practice part of how security work gets done, not a future concept.”
