Growing complexity widening cyber inequity: WEF report

Growing complexity in the cyber landscape is further exacerbating cyber inequity, deepening the divide between developed and emerging economies, and widening the gap between large and small organisations, the World Economic Forum said on Monday. In its Global Cybersecurity Outlook 2025, the WEF said nearly 54% of large organisations have identified supply chain interdependencies as the greatest barrier to achieving cyber resilience.

About 45% of cyber leaders were also found to be concerned about disruption of operations and business processes.

It further found that geopolitical turmoil has affected the perception of risks, with one in three CEOs citing cyber espionage and loss of sensitive information or intellectual property theft as their top concern.

The WEF report said that the rising complexity in cyber space arises from the rapid growth of emerging technologies, prevailing geopolitical uncertainty, the evolution of threats, regulatory challenges, vulnerabilities in supply chain interdependencies and the growing cyber skills gap.

“Cyberspace is more complex and challenging than ever due to rapid technological advancements, growing cybercriminal sophistication and deeply interconnected supply chains,” WEF Managing Director Jeremy Jurgens said, calling for collaborations between public and private sector stakeholders to secure the benefits of digitalisation for all.

The study found that 66% of organisations expect AI to have a major impact on cybersecurity in 2025, but only 37% reported having processes in place to assess the security of AI tools before deployment.