Bitdefender’s 2025 Cybersecurity Assessment Report illustrates a calm picture of today’s cyber defense landscape. It is the increasing urgency to reduce the pressure to remain silent after the breaches, and reduce the gap between leadership and frontline teams, as well as the surface of corporate attacks.
The annual study combines insights from over 1,200 IT and security experts from six countries with analysis of 700,000 cyber incidents by Bitdefender Labs. The results reveal harsh truths about how organizations tackle threats in an increasingly complex environment.
Violations have been wiped out under the rug
This year’s survey results highlight the unsettling trends. 58% of security experts were told to keep the violations secret even if they believed disclosure was necessary. This is a 38% jump since 2023, suggesting that more organizations may prioritize optics over transparency.
The pressure is particularly severe for CISOs and CIOs who report higher levels of expectations remain quiet compared to frontline staff. Such secrets risk undermining the trust, compliance obligations and long-term resilience of stakeholders.
Land attacks promote focus on the attack surface
Bitdefender analyzed 700,000 high-intensity attacks and found that 84% of high-speed attacks that currently utilize legal tools already in the environment utilize the so-called life from land (LOTL) technology. These tactics bypass traditional defenses, operate invisibly and are increasingly used in target invasions.
In response, 68% of the organisations surveyed list surface reductions in attacks as their top priority, with the US (75%) and Singapore (71%) leading adoption. A proactive hardening step – disable unnecessary services, eliminate unused applications, and reduce lateral travel paths – quickly shifts from best practices to business mandates.
AI: Recognition vs. reality
AI is looming heavily in the minds of defenders, but perceptions do not always coincide with earthly reality.
We believe that 67% AI-driven attacks are on an increase of 58%.
However, the report shows that fear may be outweighing the actual prevalence while Ai-Enhanced attacks are increasing. This gap underscores the need for a balanced approach. Preparing for the threat of AI without losing sight of today’s highs underscores the need for a balanced approach.
Reducing the risk of leadership disconnection
Perhaps the most concern is inconsistency between executives and operations teams.
45% of C-level executives report “very confident” in managing cyber risk.
Strategic areas of focus are also divided. Executives prioritize AI adoption, while frontline managers increase the urgency of cloud security and identity management. These disconnections can slow progress, dilute resources, and create blind spots for attackers to exploit.
The road ahead
The findings converge into one message. Cyber resilience requires a preemptive strategy. In other words,
The complexity of actively reducing attack surfaces that streamline security tools and dealing with team burnout and the skills gap that fills the differences between leadership and frontline perception
To find out more findings, read the BitDefender 2025 Cybersecurity Assessment Report.
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