Organisations overestimate their ability to withstand cyber attacks, with a widening gap between confidence and actual resilience as threats grow more interconnected and systemic.

This is among the findings of research carried out by Beazley, whose survey of 3,500 business professionals found that 78% believe they could fully recover financially from a cyber attack, while 82% say they feel prepared. At the same time, cyber risk remains the top concern, cited by 31% of respondents, up from 29% a year earlier.

The study highlights how disruption can spread rapidly through supply chains and digital dependencies, meaning resilience is increasingly defined by how far incidents spread and how quickly firms recover. Despite this, only 33% plan to invest more in cyber security.

Adoption of AI is accelerating, with 80% expecting it to boost profits and 72% anticipating job losses within 18 months, intensifying both opportunity and risk.

Alessandro Lezzi, group head of cyber risks at Beazley, says the misalignment between risk concerns and perception of resilience to these risks is the standout concern.

“That gap matters because cyber risk is becoming more systemic – the high-profile incidents in 2025 only prove this. As businesses become more interconnected and adopt technologies such as AI, disruption can spread faster across organisations and supply chains, making incidents harder to contain,” he added. “It’s encouraging to see, however, that a third of businesses plan to invest in stronger cyber security, including access to specialist expertise to help them better understand their exposure, strengthen incident response and plan for realistic disruption scenarios across the organisation.”

Beazley’s research was carried out in January 2026 among 3,500 business professionals from internationally operating companies based in the UK, US, Canada, Singapore, France, Germany and Spain. Respondents represented a range of company sizes, from US$/CA$/SG$/GB£/EUR€ 250,000 to over 1bn in annual revenue, across all surveyed markets.

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