Indian Organisations Struggle with Cyber Defences Amid Rising AI-Enhanced Attacks
According to Cisco's 'Relentless Defense Report', nearly all Indian organisations (96%) have experienced at least one business-disrupting cyber incident in the past year. The report, based on a survey of over 8,000 security professionals worldwide, including 1,000 from India, highlights internal organisational friction as a major obstacle to effective cyber defences. This includes bureaucratic approval delays, fragmented data, and disconnected teams.
More than one-third (34%) of incidents involved artificial intelligence-enhanced attacks. Only 40% of Indian security, networking, and IT teams reported functioning cohesively, indicating a significant challenge in integrated defence strategies. Communication gaps with executive leadership were also prominent, with nearly half (49%) of respondents finding their security metrics too technical to persuade company executives.
Data access constraints further impeded defence capabilities, with 44% of Indian organisations spending more time collecting and correlating data than actively countering threats. Despite the benefits of AI adoption, only four in ten Indian organisations have extensively deployed AI agents in security operations, citing concerns over data exposure, system compromises, and third-party management risks.
Cisco's Sunil Potti emphasized the importance of building trust into AI foundations: 'You cannot govern what you cannot see, and you cannot trust what you cannot govern.'