AI has changed the game for cybercriminals. Attackers can generate ransomware with astonishing speed. They can capture sensitive information from their victims from social media or using realistic deepfakes to compromise even the most robust of systems. Customers have seen just what happens to a brand under attack: paralyzed supply chains, stolen customer data, eroded trust.
Accenture’s latest State of Cybersecurity Resilience report shows the scale of the challenge. An overwhelming 88% of UK firms report they lack the maturity to defend against AI-driven threats. These are not marginal statistics; the majority of businesses are vulnerable. Financial services, retail and critical infrastructure are especially high-risk targets.
Part of the problem is that attackers enjoy freedoms organizations do not. Defending organizations must win every time; attackers only need to succeed once. The battle is not easy or fair – but it is one we can be prepared for.
The True Cost is Organizational and Reputational
When a breach occurs, it is people who suffer. Customers lose personal data. Employees are locked out of systems. Suppliers face disruption. Trust, once broken, is hard to earn back.
The rise of cyber-criminal groups makes this sharper still. These networks combine technical access with social engineering and media manipulation, seeking not just financial gain but chaos and humiliation. By contradicting statements and leaking data, they weaponize reputation faster than any firewall can respond.
The lesson here is clear. Cyber resilience is not only about technology, but about reputation and relationships. The most resilient brands recover quicker - in market confidence as well as operations.
Resilience Must Be Built In
Despite the advances in today’s technology, the weakest link for an organization is still human error. A single click can undo millions in investment.
Security cannot remain in a silo or bolted onto operations as an afterthought. It must be embedded across the enterprise. Not only that, modern security is not merely about preventing and detecting threats, but the ability to recover swiftly from disruptions.
Resilience therefore depends on cross-functional responses. Fire drills that involve the COO, CISO and frontline teams build “muscle memory” so when the crisis arrives, people don’t scramble to figure out roles.
How CISOs Can Bring Boards With Them
Resilient organizations have a strategy that integrates operational with cyber and technology resilience, as well as business continuity planning and disaster recovery solutions. A CISO can explain how businesses must operate with the expectation that new regulations, risks and threats will emerge during the lifespan of any business process or system, requiring agility to stay compliant and resilient.
CISOs can start by framing risk in commercial language: lost revenue, customer churn, downtime and regulatory exposure. They should prioritize simulation over reporting, running live crisis exercises that make risk tangible for non-technical leaders. Above all, they should embed security in every innovation conversation, ensuring that AI pilots, cloud migrations and new digital services are secure by design, not by retrofit.
With these tools, CISOs can make cyber resilience a Board-level discipline: part of enterprise strategy, not an annual compliance line item. When the Board sees that resilience protects both brand equity and shareholder value, buy-in comes more easily.
The ‘Lifeboat’ Principle
In critical industries, firms must also operate a minimal viable business or “lifeboat” environment. This means running a minimal, isolated version of core operations, that is ready to activate during a cyber event with a combination of manual and technology processes. The lifeboat must be production-ready, secure and rehydrated quickly. That design discipline must be the new standard for enterprises today. It demands that boards treat cyber risk with the same weight they assign to financial controls, legal risk and supply chain resilience.
Outside of operations, security must be embedded into innovation too. Only one in four organizations embed security into AI initiatives from the outset. Add geopolitical instability, disinformation and supply chain fragility, and exposure multiplies.
Organizations can enhance AI security by establishing an effective governance framework, securing core business systems from the start, and using AI with thorough employee training to automate threat detection and strengthen defenses.
A Leadership Agenda
Economic growth has returned as a priority on the UK's agenda and it’s essential that vulnerabilities in cybersecurity do not undermine these efforts. Boards and leadership teams should reconceptualize cyber as a foundational business discipline, not a cost center or compliance task.
AI initiatives, cloud migrations, and operational systems must assume attackers will test them from day one. It’s therefore critical for businesses to embed security into design, from ideation to deployment. In tandem, businesses must invest in their people. Cyber-savvy employees remain the hardest line to compromise. Everyone must understand their role in a systemic response.
Boards that lead with resilience, not reaction, will be the ones to thrive.
In a volatile world and digital economy, cyber resilience is no longer optional. It is the foundation of sustainable success.