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Enterprises are rushing to adopt generative AI (GenAI) into their business operations, but moving too fast comes with an array of risks.
There’s some good news, for a change, on the data breach front, with the number of organisations reporting breaches dropping significantly over the past few years, according to the 2025 Thales Data Threat Report.
Fifty-six per cent of businesses polled reported they had suffered a data breach in 2021, but that figure has dropped to 45 per cent in 2025.
The news is even better over the last 12 months, in particular, with just 14 per cent reporting a breach within the last year in 2025, compared to 23 per cent in 2021.
What companies are worrying about has evolved as well. While malware remains the number one concern, phishing has moved past ransomware into the second most feared cyber threat.
Similarly, the threat actors that organisations are most concerned about have experienced a shift in 2025. Hacktivists hold the top spot, but nation-state actors have overtaken human error, which drops into third place.
However, one of the most serious areas of threat is that exposed by the rapid adoption of artificial intelligence, particularly generative AI. Many organisations at an advanced stage of adoption are moving fast, but at the same time, not keeping up with the need to keep AI systems secure. Seventy per cent of organisations view this pace as a leading concern.
Despite this, securing generative AI is a top priority for organisations, just behind cloud security. Seventy-three per cent of organisations have invested in AI-focused security tools, while some companies are also diversifying their security approach.
“The fast-evolving GenAI landscape is pressuring enterprises to move quickly, sometimes at the cost of caution, as they race to stay ahead of the adoption curve,” Eric Hanselman, chief analyst at S&P Global Market Intelligence 451 Research – which conducted the survey Thales’ report is based upon – said in a statement.
“Many enterprises are deploying GenAI faster than they can fully understand their application architectures, compounded by the rapid spread of SaaS tools embedding GenAI capabilities, adding layers of complexity and risk.”
The 2025 Thales Data Threat Report is based on a survey of more than 3,100 IT and security professionals from 20 countries.
David Hollingworth has been writing about technology for over 20 years, and has worked for a range of print and online titles in his career. He is enjoying getting to grips with cyber security, especially when it lets him talk about Lego.
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