Half of Security Leaders Cite AI Systems as Cyber Threat They Are Least Equipped to Defend, PwC Survey Finds
Half of Security Leaders Cite AI Systems as Cyber Threat They Are Least Equipped to Defend, PwC Survey Finds #
Attacks targeting artificial intelligence systems are the largest cybersecurity preparedness gap for organisations worldwide, according to PwC’s 2027 Global Digital Trust Insights Survey, published 1 October 2026.
The survey gathered responses from 3,934 business and technology executives across 71 countries and territories. Half of security leaders named attacks on their own AI systems among the cyber threats they feel least prepared to address, placing that concern ahead of cloud-related vulnerabilities (40%), third-party supply-chain breaches (34%) and ransomware (33%).
Within the category of AI-enabled threats, compromise by autonomous botnets was cited by 53% of respondents as a risk they are ill-equipped to defend against, followed closely by adversarial attacks and data poisoning, both at 52%.
Despite the preparedness deficit, organisations are sharply increasing cybersecurity investment. More than four in five security and finance leaders (84%) expect their cyber budgets to grow over the next 12 months, up from 78% in the prior year’s survey. AI is the principal driver of that spending increase, with 58% of security leaders ranking it among their top budget priorities.
Attitudes toward autonomous AI in defence are cautious. Only 22% of leaders said they would be willing to deploy fully autonomous AI agents for cyber defence without human approval, and more than half attributed that reluctance to concerns about AI’s reliability and maturity.
Quantum risk is another area where readiness lags. Although industry and standards bodies have warned about the threat quantum computing poses to current encryption, just 21% of respondents said they are actively implementing quantum-resistant security measures.
Governance gaps sit alongside the technical shortfalls. Fewer than half of respondents (47%) strongly agreed that cyber risk is a standing agenda item at the board level, a finding PwC interprets as a sign that C-suite elevation of cybersecurity remains incomplete across most organisations.
The financial services sector faces the same pattern. PwC’s accompanying industry breakdown shows that attacks targeting AI systems also rank as the top cyber threat that financial services firms feel least prepared to handle, as the sector accelerates AI adoption across trading, compliance and customer-facing operations.
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