Cisco’s latest security report shows internal organizational friction has surpassed technical weaknesses as the primary hurdle to enterprise cybersecurity. The Relentless Defense Report evaluates companies on system protection, threat response, and readiness for AI-driven risks. Globally, the average score is 64 out of 100, while India scores slightly higher at 66. Only 8% of organizations worldwide, including the same share in India, meet the criteria for Relentless Defenders, the highest-performing classification.
AI both escalates threats and enhances defenses, but slow decision-making and fragmented teams hinder progress. Security teams using AI tools report 25% faster detection and response times in more than eight in ten cases globally and more than nine in ten in India, yet fewer than half have fully implemented AI-powered security systems. Deployment remains limited in security operations and investigations, the areas where AI could provide the most significant benefits. Globally, only one-third of organizations and 40% in India have extensively integrated AI agents into security operations, primarily due to concerns over data exposure and system vulnerabilities.
Relentless Defenders excel by eliminating silos and supporting collaboration. 83% operate as unified security teams with shared tools, compared to just 37% of other companies. They also enforce stricter controls over AI agents and non-human identities (86% versus 37%) and demonstrate greater confidence in identifying compromised AI systems (77% compared to 51%). Among organizations that increased security spending, Relentless Defenders achieved nearly twice the reduction in security incidents (71% versus 39%).
The report identifies three key friction points impeding progress. First, coordination: only 41% globally and 40% in India report that security, networking, and IT teams function as a single unit. Second, leadership alignment: 43% globally and 49% in India struggle to translate security metrics into business language that influences executive decisions, while 36% globally and 34% in India face challenges in translating business metrics into actionable information for decision-making. 27% globally and 26% in India lack a consistent way to measure security performance. Third, data access: 40% globally and 44% in India spend more time collecting data than addressing threats, while 39% globally and 43% in India miss critical insights due to fragmented data systems.
Security teams confirm AI can improve threat detection by over 100% in some cases, but only when organizations eliminate operational delays. The report finds that 25% of Relentless Defenders achieve this performance gain, whereas just 7% of other companies do. The core issue is not technology; it is ensuring teams operate as efficiently as the systems they manage.
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