Artur Martins, CISO, Logicalis Portugal and Roger Loh, Head of Solutions, Digital Transformation, Logicalis Singapore.
Logicalis, the global technology service provider, today released the ‘Closing the Security Maturity Gap’ benchmark report, highlighting a widening gap between security ambition and operational readiness as organisations face increasingly sophisticated and AI-enabled threats.
Despite significant investment in cyber security capabilities, the research found that nearly two-thirds (64%) of organisations lack mature round-the-clock security operations and almost three-quarters (74%) are not extensively using security automation, leaving them vulnerable to increasingly fast-moving threats.
The report draws on 357 responses from IT and security professionals across EMEA and Asia Pacific. It benchmarks maturity across the capabilities that define effective security operations – ownership, 24x7 response, visibility, detection, incident readiness and access to external expertise – and identifies the practices that can help organisations close the gap.
While many organisations are investing in cyber security, the report shows a persistent gap between investment and operational capability. Nearly four in 10 (39%) organisations manage ‘business as usual’ security well but struggle to keep up with emerging threats and just over two-thirds (64%) fall short of fully mature 24/7 security operations.
The report highlights that AI is accelerating both attack and defence capabilities, compressing the time between vulnerability discovery and exploitation. As a result, security maturity is increasingly defined by an organisation’s ability to co-ordinate people, processes and technology into a resilient operating model, capable of detecting, responding to and recovering from threats at machine speed.
With nearly two-thirds (63%) of organisations not fully prepared for ransomware attacks, the findings suggest many organisations still have significant work to do to build cyber resilience.
The research also highlights growing demand for external security expertise.
Furthermore, almost nine in 10 organisations (87%) see a positive or potentially positive role for managed SOC and MXDR services, reflecting a growing need for specialist skills, continuous coverage, advanced threat intelligence and faster response capabilities.
Increasingly, organisations view managed security partners as a strategic extension of their internal security teams, helping accelerate security maturity while maintaining visibility and control.
Roger Loh, Head of Solutions, Digital Transformation, Logicalis Singapore, commented: “The findings show that cyber security is no longer simply about deploying more tools. As AI accelerates both cyber attacks and defence strategies, security leaders must focus on building adaptive security operations that combine skilled people, intelligence automation and continuous response.”
Artur Martins, CISO, Logicalis Portugal, commented: “The organisations closing the security maturity gap are not necessarily those investing the most, but those connecting people, processes and technology into a co-ordinated operating model. The research demonstrates that resilience comes from the ability to anticipate, act, recover and learn. For many organisations, trusted managed security services are becoming a critical enabler of that journey.”
Logicalis will be hosting a webinar: ‘What organisations with mature security do differently: 5 lessons from a global SOC’ on 15 October, looking at the practices that organisations with a mature security operation are implementing and what others can do to bridge the gap.
Register your interest in the webinar here.
About the research:
The research is based on responses from 357 IT and security professionals across EMEA and Asia Pacific.
The study benchmarks organisations’ security maturity across key capabilities including ownership, 24x7 response, visibility, threat detection, incident readiness and access to external expertise.
