Accenture on AI Readiness: Enterprise's AI Challenge

AI is reshaping industries at an extraordinary pace, not only enhancing back-office operations but also driving next-generation products and services.

This transformation affects all aspects of business operations.

However, with its rapid integration across enterprises, AI is also heightening cyber risks.

Accenture warns that AI is also creating a global cyber risk.

According to its State of Cybersecurity Resilience 2025 report, the outlook is concerning: only 10% of organisations globally are equipped to tackle AI-driven cyberattacks.

In contrast, a substantial 63% are categorised as being in the ‘Exposed Zone’, highlighting their lack of both an integrated cybersecurity framework and the necessary technical backbone to counter current threats.
"Rising geopolitical tensions, economic volatility and increasingly complex operational environments, coupled with AI-augmented attacks are leaving organisations more vulnerable to cyber risks,” says Paolo Dal Cin, Global Lead at Accenture Security, one of the report’s three authors.

“This report serves as a wake‑up call that cybersecurity can no longer be an afterthought. It must be embedded by design into every AI‑driven initiative.”

Is global cybersecurity at a turning point?

The findings by Accenture come as it surveyed 2,286 security and technology executives across 24 different sectors in 17 countries. These executives represent some of the largest global organisations.

Respondents fell into three maturity zones:

• Exposed Zone: Companies lacking both strategy and capability, leaving them highly vulnerable – 63% fall into this category
• Progressing Zone: Organisations, of which Accenture identified 27%, with strengths in either strategy or protection but fail to align the two effectively
• Reinvention‑Ready Zone: Accenture found just 10% of leading firms combine adaptive security strategies with strong technical defence. These companies are 69% less likely to fall victim to advanced AI‑powered attacks, enjoy 1.5 times higher success rates in blocking threats and report a 15% boost in customer trust

Accenture highlights that organisations positioned in the Reinvention-Ready Zone have transformed security into an operational strength rather than merely a defence mechanism, reinforcing overall business resilience.With the backdrop of escalating geopolitical tensions and changing regulatory landscapes, these identified failures present a vulnerability to cyber disruptions on a global scale.

Co-author Daniel Kendzior, Global Data & AI Security Lead at Accenture, says: “The rapid advancement of generative AI represents a profound paradigm shift in cybersecurity, bringing unique challenges and opportunities. “By designing AI systems with security at their core and continuously monitoring and updating them, organisations can stay ahead of the most critical threats.

“Business resilience requires readiness to quickly respond to disruptive forces and confidence in your organization’s ability to act effectively.”

How can cybersecurity resilience be strengthened?

For firms needing to catch up, Accenture recommends four crucial steps towards becoming Reinvention-Ready:

Accenture’s advice:

• Govern with purpose: Build and deploy a fit‑for‑purpose security governance framework that aligns AI security to regulatory, ethical and business priorities, ensuring board‑level accountability, Accenture says
• Design secure digital cores: Accenture advises businesses embed resilience into every AI system from the outset, eliminating the inefficiencies of retrofitting defences and treating security as an enabler of innovation
• Maintain resilient foundations: By establishing continuous monitoring, independent model testing and AI‑specific incident response capabilities, Accenture says businesses will be able to address threats like deepfakes, model manipulation and AI‑powered worms.
• Reinvent security with AI: Deploy Gen AI as a force multiplier for cyber teams, Accenture advises. Automating threat detection, reducing analyst workloads and bridging the cyber talent gap are benefits that come as a result.

As Accenture presents these guidelines, it points out notable discrepancies in preparedness globally.
Surprisingly, only 14% of North American and 11% of European companies have developed mature cybersecurity postures, while 77% of Latin American enterprises remain entrenched in the Exposed Zone.

Meanwhile, in Asia-Pacific, 71% of organizations contend with serious operational and financial vulnerabilities due to inadequate safety measures, indicating a widespread need for stronger AI-intregrated cybersecurity efforts.

Security as a strategic enabler

The message from Accenture is clear: viewing cybersecurity solely as a compliance requirement is outdated.

Enterprises that prioritise security as a strategic enabler not only achieve greater operational insight and enhanced customer confidence but also improve returns on AI initiatives.

Paolo says: “Taking this proactive approach will help ensure a competitive edge, strengthen customer loyalty and turn cybersecurity into a business enabler.”