Just 2% of local firms qualify as top cyber defenders: Cisco

Organisations scored 59 out of 100 in cyber defence, below the global average of 64. 

Only 2% of organisations in Hong Kong qualified amongst the highest-performing cybersecurity defenders, compared with 8% globally, according to a Cisco report.

The study found that the organisations scored an average of 59 out of 100 for cybersecurity defence, below the global average of 64.

This comes as 89% of local firms experienced a material, business-disrupting cyber incident in the past 12 months, compared with 91% globally.

Meanwhile, more than one-third of incidents globally, including Hong Kong, involved artificial intelligence (AI)-enhanced attacks.

Cisco identified organisational coordination, approval delays, and fragmented data as barriers to effective cybersecurity.

It found that 46% of organisations said their security, networking, and IT teams operated as one team with shared visibility and tools.

Meanwhile, 43% reported missing critical insights because data was inaccessible, whilst 34% spent more time collecting and correlating data than addressing threats.

Less than half (45%) of the city’s respondents considered their cybersecurity metrics too technical to persuade executives. About 44% struggled to translate business metrics into information that could influence decisions.

Globally, 83% of the highest-performing defenders operated as coordinated security teams, compared with 37% of other organisations.

These top defenders were also more likely to apply consistent controls to AI agents and non-human identities, at 86% versus 37%.

"That trust is only realised when security and resilience become inseparable," said Sunil Potti, senior vice president and general manager of Security, Observability, and Data Platform at Cisco.

"You cannot govern what you cannot see, and you cannot trust what you cannot govern," he added.

The study surveyed 8,000 cybersecurity professionals across 30 markets, including Hong Kong, in April and May.