PwC’s 2027 Digital Trust Insights survey finds Irish organisations lag their global counterparts on risk integration, incident testing, AI agents and quantum security.
Irish organisations are lagging behind their global peers on integrating cyber risk into their operations, according to new research from PwC.
The PwC 2027 Global Digital Trust Insights Survey found that only 17pc of Irish business and information security leaders strongly agree that cyber risk is integrated into their organisation’s enterprise risk management processes, compared with 41pc globally.
Fewer than a quarter (23pc) of Irish respondents strongly agree that their organisation regularly conducts realistic incident response exercises to test preparedness, against 41pc worldwide. The survey captured the views of 3,934 business and technology executives across 71 countries and territories, including Ireland.
Cautious approach to AI agents
Irish leaders are also more wary of handing control to AI. Just 6pc of Irish respondents would authorise fully autonomous execution by AI agents for cyber defence, compared with 22pc globally. A further 37pc would let agents recommend actions, as long as a human approves each one before it runs.
Reliability and maturity of the technology was the most-cited barrier to greater autonomy in Ireland, named by 69pc of respondents – the global figure was 55pc. Regulatory or compliance constraints (57pc, against 36pc globally) and concerns about adversarial manipulation of AI systems (57pc, against 42pc) were also commonly cited.
Globally, 84pc of security and finance leaders expect cyber budgets to rise in 2027, up from 78pc last year. In Ireland, 34pc said securing against AI-enabled attacks is a cyber spend priority, compared with 46pc globally.
Half of global respondents (50pc) identified attacks targeting AI systems among the threats for which they are least prepared. Over half of leaders globally felt unready for the threat of AI being used to control large networks (53pc).
On quantum security, 6pc of Irish respondents said they are implementing quantum-resistant measures, against 21pc globally. That said, 68pc of Irish respondents said they were piloting, testing or exploring them – slightly ahead of the global figure of 65pc.
“The ultimate goal of cybersecurity is not just to protect the business, but to give the business the confidence to move forward,” said Leonard McAuliffe, partner for cybersecurity and privacy at PwC Ireland.
“As organisations race to capture the value of AI, cyber resilience needs to become a business capability, embedded in C-suite decision-making from the outset. The survey finds many organisations are still under-prepared for a rapidly evolving cyber landscape and organisations that get this right will be better positioned to innovate with confidence while continuing to operate through disruption.”
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