Jeetu Patel, Chief Product Officer, Cisco: Urging enterprises & organizations to take concerted actions in taking on the AI-driven cyber attacks
In a notable development, Cisco’s 2025 Cybersecurity Readiness Index suggests that only 7 percent of organizations in India have achieved the ‘Mature’ level of readiness required to effectively take on today’s cybersecurity threats. This is a slight increase from last year’s Index, in which 4 percent of organizations in India were designated as Mature. This indicates that despite some improvement from last year, cybersecurity preparedness remains low as hyperconnectivity, and AI introduce new complexities for security practitioners.
The field of AI (artificial intelligence) is revolutionizing security and escalating threat levels, with 9 in 10 organizations (95 percent) facing AI-related security incidents last year. However, only 66 percent of respondents are confident their employees fully understand AI related threats, and 63 percent believe their teams fully grasp how malicious actors are using AI to execute sophisticated attacks. This awareness gap leaves organizations critically exposed.
AI is compounding an already challenging threat landscape. In the last year, more than half of organizations (57 percent) suffered cyberattacks, hindered by complex security frameworks with disparate point solutions. Looking forward, respondents view external threats like malicious actors and state-affiliated groups (46 percent) as more significant to their organizations than internal threats ( 54 percent), underscoring the urgent need for streamlined defense strategies to thwart external attacks.
“As AI transforms the enterprise, we’re dealing with an entirely new class of risks at unprecedented scale – putting even more pressure on our infrastructure and those who defend it,” says Jeetu Patel, Chief Product Officer, Cisco. “This year’s report continues to reveal alarming gaps in security readiness and a lack of urgency to address them. Organizations must rethink their strategies now or risk becoming irrelevant in the AI era,” comments Patel.
“As cyberattacks grow in scale and sophistication, the risks now extend far beyond data loss – organizations face operational disruption, damage to brand reputation, and erosion of customer trust. This year’s Cybersecurity Readiness Index reveals a widening gap between the pace of threats and the preparedness of businesses,” views Samir Kumar Mishra, Director, Security Business, Cisco India & SAARC.
“To close this gap, organizations must adopt unified, AI-driven security platforms that automate threat detection and response. Addressing the talent shortage and mitigating risks from unmanaged devices and shadow AI will be equally critical to building resilience and safeguarding trust in an increasingly digital world,” Mishra.
Cybersecurity Readiness remains flat as AI transforms the industry. The Cisco 2025 Cybersecurity Readiness Index evaluates companies’ readiness across five pillars – identity intelligence, network resilience, machine trustworthiness, cloud reinforcement, and AI fortification – and encompassing 31 solutions and capabilities.
Based on a double-blind survey of 8,000 private sector security and business leaders in 30 global markets, respondents detailed their deployment stages for each solution. Companies were then categorized into four readiness stages: beginner, formative, progressive, and mature.
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