Resilience Gap: 85% of Leaders Say Defenses Cannot Keep Pace with Evolving Threats

A study of European leaders reveals dangerous stagnation in budgets, widespread AI skepticism, and a lack of basic incident response plans. 

WARSAW, Poland – July 2026 – Digital ecosystems have hit a critical tipping point. As automated and AI-enhanced cyberattacks scale up globally, the gap between organizational preparedness and threat sophistication is widening at an alarming rate. 

85% of technology and security experts believe that the pace of cyber threat evolution will fundamentally outstrip enterprise defensive capabilities over the coming year. Compounding the crisis, one in five organizations located in Poland admits to experiencing a confirmed cyber incident within the past 12 months, with ransomware and phishing remaining the most destructive vectors. According to ESET, Poland ranked first globally in terms of the number of detected ransomware attacks, accounting for 6% of all reported incidents worldwide and surpassing even the United States.

These are the benchmark findings from the Contemporary Cybersecurity Landscape 2026 Report, published by Xopero Software. The study analyzes how European organizations are responding to an increasingly hostile threat landscape. 

The Escalation Curve: 88% Expect Attack Surges in 2026

The scale of modern cyber risk is no longer a forward-looking prediction – it is actively disrupting operational stability across Europe. According to the study:

• 88% of respondents expect the volume of cyberattack attempts to escalate further throughout 2026.

• One in five organizations (20%) reports having already experienced a confirmed cyber incident within the past 12 months.

• When evaluating the vectors causing the most severe business disruption and financial liquidation, experts point squarely to ransomware (83%) and phishing (71%). 

"Let’s discard the myth of the lone hacker working out of a basement. Ransomware syndicates operate exactly like legitimate enterprise corporations," warns Maciej Broniarz, CEO and Co-Founder of DC9 Cyber. "Cybercrime is no longer an isolated technical event – it has become a permanent, existential component of operational corporate risk."

The Illusion of Security: The Resilience Gap 

Despite years of increasing awareness, actual organizational cyber resilience remains deeply fragile. The report reveals a disconnect between recognized risks and active defense:

• Only 29% of surveyed organizations rate their cyber resilience as high or very high. The vast majority (71%) describe it as "average" or "low."

• 66% of experts predict a steadily widening gap between escalating threat levels and internal security capabilities, while an additional 19% believe cyber threats will completely outpace corporate preparedness. Together, this leaves 85% of leaders holding a deeply pessimistic outlook on corporate cyber resilience for the year ahead. 

• Despite these vulnerabilities, corporate responses remain conservative – 52% of organizations do not plan to increase their cybersecurity spending, and 64% operate entirely without cyber insurance.

The AI Skepticism Paradox

While Artificial Intelligence dominates global technology narratives, the report exposes a distrust of AI within frontline security operations. Only one in five organizations (20%) currently utilizes AI in their IT and security workflows.

The primary barrier is a lack of institutional trust: 40% of security specialists explicitly distrust AI-based solutions, citing concerns that the technology is unreliable, highly vulnerable to adversarial manipulation, or a source of entirely new threat vectors. Another 30% remain undecided, waiting for proven industry standards to emerge.

Legacy Mindsets in a Next-Gen Threat Environment

The report exposes a reliance on legacy defensive models. Cybercriminals are operating with corporate-level efficiency, yet corporate defenses remain heavily siloed and piecemeal:

• 55% of companies do not use threat intelligence to support proactive protection.

• 51% of respondents rely solely on traditional antivirus software for threat detection and response.

• 50% do not automate incident response processes, for example, through SOAR (Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response) platforms.

• Every second company (50%) lacks both a Business Continuity Plan (BCP) and an Incident Response Plan (IRP).

Łukasz Jesis, CEO of Xopero Software, adds: "In 2026, competitive advantage will belong to organizations that accept a permanently hostile environment and pivot from 'antivirus walls' to true operational resilience. The question is no longer if an incident will occur, but when. Survival dictates an organization’s ability to minimize downtime, recover immediately, and maintain business continuity."

The full Contemporary Cybersecurity Landscape 2026 Report report is available for download at: https://xopero.com/resources/reports/cybersecurity-landscape-2026/

About the report and Xopero Software

Xopero is a global technology leader that develops proprietary technologies and delivers Backup & Disaster Recovery solutions, giving organizations full control over their data. It ensures resilience against ransomware, outages, human error, and operational downtime. Their solutions also protect critical OT environments, ensuring business continuity and minimizing the risk of disruptions in industrial infrastructure. The company is also the owner of GitProtect.io - automated and manageable backup and disaster recovery solution for all Jira, Bitbucket, GitHub, GitLab, Azure DevOps, and more DevOps stack data

 The Contemporary Cybersecurity Landscape 2026 Report was conducted via a comprehensive survey of 420 IT decision-makers, CISOs, and security experts representing critical sectors in Central Europe (Poland). Data is presented in aggregate percentage formats to ensure absolute anonymity regarding sensitive infrastructure vulnerabilities.