Security News 73% of Organizations Say They Are Not Fully Ready for a Major Cyberattack

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Content source

https://thehackernews.com/2026/07/73-of-organizations-say-they-are-not.html

Most organizations have incident response plans, security tools, and technical teams in place. Yet new research suggests that many still lack the coordination, visibility, and executive alignment needed to withstand a serious cyberattack.

According to The State of Incident Response Readiness 2026, based on a survey of 600 senior IT security decision makers conducted by Vanson Bourne in January and February 2026, 73% of organizations admit they would not be "fully ready" if a significant cybersecurity attack occurred tomorrow.

The findings point to a critical gap between having incident response capabilities and being able to execute them effectively under pressure.

The report also found that cyberattacks are already a recurring business risk. More than three-quarters of organizations, 76%, experienced at least one cyberattack in the past 12 months, while 32% experienced more than one.

Read full Story here:

73% of Organizations Say They Are Not Fully Ready for a Major Cyberattack

A 2026 survey of 600 security leaders finds 73% of organizations are not fully ready for a major cyberattack, despite widespread planning.

thehackernews.com

 

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Read full Story here:

73% of Organizations Say They Are Not Fully Ready for a Major Cyberattack

A 2026 survey of 600 security leaders finds 73% of organizations are not fully ready for a major cyberattack, despite widespread planning.

thehackernews.com

Key takeaway

These findings highlight an important distinction: having security products and an incident response plan does not necessarily mean an organization can respond effectively during a real attack.

The percentages should be interpreted as survey results rather than a direct measurement of every organization’s security posture. Self-reported readiness can vary depending on how respondents define “fully ready,” the sectors represented, and the maturity of the organizations surveyed. The report’s methodology and original data should be reviewed before drawing broader conclusions.

In practice, incident response readiness usually depends on:

• Clearly defined roles, decision-making authority, and escalation paths
• Reliable asset, identity, and logging visibility
• Regularly tested backups and recovery procedures
• Out-of-band communication methods in case normal systems are compromised
• Coordination between security, IT, legal, communications, management, and external providers
• Tabletop exercises and technical recovery tests—not merely written plans
• An established process for notifying customers, regulators, insurers, and law enforcement when appropriate

The finding that many organizations experienced an attack in the previous year also reinforces that incident response should be treated as an ongoing operational capability, not a document created only for compliance purposes. Exercises should produce tracked improvements, assigned owners, and deadlines.

The most useful measure of readiness is whether an organization can detect an incident, make informed decisions, contain the damage, restore critical services, and communicate accurately under pressure.