60 VIEWPOINT Research reveals cybersecurity confidence is outpacing visibility Security confidence is running ahead of visibility. The priority is to test the evidence, identify the gaps and act on them Oliver Harvey-Jones is director of cloud, UK and Ireland at Arrow “With cyberthreats becoming more sophisticated and budgets under scrutiny, security decisions need evidence rather than assumed protection” Security is intrinsic to how organisations operate, protecting data, underpinning cloud and identity, and shaping how safely AI moves from experimentation into everyday use. An Arrow-commissioned Censuswide survey of 400 UK IT decision-makers points to four connected pressures. Incidents are widespread, secure AI adoption and governance are moving up the agenda, cyber confidence is not always matched by visibility, and skills shortages are making capacity harder to build. While 99 per cent of respondents expressed confidence in detecting sophisticated threats, the same proportion reported at least one security incident or concern in the past year, and only 30 per cent were highly confident in their realtime visibility. With cyberthreats becoming more sophisticated and budgets under scrutiny, security decisions need evidence rather than assumed protection. Security threats are an operational reality for organisations of all shapes and sizes. Research suggests the issue is not simply whether security tools are present, but whether organisations can see how well they are working as exposure changes. The survey reinforces this, revealing that third-party security issues were the most commonly reported concern highlighted by 23 per cent of IT decision-makers, with phishing, malware, data exposure and cloud misconfiguration close behind. For most organisations, the starting point is to review what security they already own, what is switched on and where the gaps sit. In a Microsoft environment, that can mean using Entra to strengthen identity and access, Purview to improve data governance, and Defender XDR and Sentinel to bring detection and response together. Microsoft Security Exposure Management and Secure Score can then help organisations assess posture and measure improvement. Some gaps can be closed through better configuration and integration, while others call for ongoing management, specialist skills and additional capability. AI is also raising the stakes. Seven in 10 respondents now use AI in some form, and AI governance is the most cited operational pressure both now and as organisations look to next year. Almost every respondent named at least one barrier to using AI securely. Safe, scalable AI depends on governance, data protection, ownership and visibility keeping pace with how these tools will be used. The importance of that evidence becomes particularly clear when adopting Microsoft 365 Copilot, because it works with the data and permissions already in place. It does not create access where
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