Our latest AI Risk report sets out a warning for UK businesses: attackers are already using AI to move faster, scale campaigns, and make threats harder to detect. Meanwhile, many organisations are still caught in the weeds, working out how to respond.
More than half of UK business leaders say they’re unsure whether they have the expertise to defend against an AI-powered cyber attack. At the same time, over a quarter of UK businesses aren’t using AI to enhance their cybersecurity at all, posing a dangerous gap as attackers continue to automate AI-enabled phishing campaigns, generate deepfakes, and scan for vulnerabilities at scale.
The challenge isn’t a lack of awareness. 61% of business leaders in the UK say AI has played an important part in helping them successfully prevent a threat. 91% now call AI a priority for the next two years in their cybersecurity roadmaps. However, intention doesn’t equal readiness. If implementation is slow or if the teams aren’t equipped with the skills to manage AI-generated threats, attackers will continue to benefit from the advantage.
The issue for many organisations is that AI adoption is often discussed solely as a technology decision, but it is also an operational and skills challenge. Their cybersecurity teams need to understand where AI can strengthen detection and response, and who’s responsible for managing it day to day. Without that clarity, even businesses that recognise AI as a priority may struggle to turn ambition into protection. In this context, effective planning, comprehensive training, and leveraging trusted external expertise are essential.
This gap becomes most visible in the threats that business leaders are already worried about. Rather than being purely technical risks, AI-enhanced phishing and deepfakes directly challenge employees’ capability to judge what’s genuine, urgent or trustworthy. As these attacks become more convincing, businesses need AI-powered defences that can detect suspicious patterns before human error becomes the entry point.
However, this doesn’t mean treating AI-based protection as a standalone fix. Businesses need to embed it into a broader cyber resilience strategy, supported by integrated policies, ongoing employee training and trusted security partners. AI-powered solutions can help teams detect threats earlier, reduce manual workload and respond more effectively, but human oversight and expertise are also a must.
The message for UK business leaders is clear: embracing AI in cybersecurity is not optional. Attackers are already using it. Businesses now need to close the gap between intention and implementation, making sure their defences can meet and exceed the speed and sophistication of AI-powered threats.
www.hornetsecurity.com
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