New research uncovers widespread readiness gaps, staffing challenges, and technology fragmentation across enterprise security programs
AlertMedia, the leading provider of risk intelligence and response solutions, released The Security Maturity Benchmark Report, a new research study examining the operational, organizational, and technology factors that determine whether security programs can effectively withstand today’s evolving threat landscape.
Also Read: CIO Influence Interview with Hugo Dozois-Caouette, CTO and Co-founder at MaintainX
Ninety-two percent of organizations say they have experienced consequences tied to security readiness gaps.
The report features responses from more than 500 senior security decision-makers and highlights how organizations are managing increasing risk complexity, constrained resources, and rising expectations around business resilience. The findings reveal a growing divide between organizations operating reactively and those with mature, proactive security programs built to detect threats earlier, coordinate faster responses, and minimize operational disruption.
“Security leaders today are operating in one of the most demanding risk environments we’ve seen,” said Christopher Kenessey, CEO at AlertMedia. “We conducted this research to better understand the operational realities security professionals are facing, so we can arm them with data and insights on how their program maturity may be shaping critical outcomes. The findings make it clear that proactive programs enable organizational resilience at scale.”
The report identifies five foundational dimensions that shape security program maturity: leadership oversight, staffing structure, incident response processes, technology integration, and performance measurement. According to the research, organizations with mature security programs are nearly twice as likely to spend their time proactively preparing for threats instead of reacting to incidents already underway.
The findings also reveal significant operational challenges facing security teams:
- 92% have experienced consequences tied to security readiness gaps
- 95% identified at least one emerging risk they believe is under-discussed internally
- 59% report their security teams are currently understaffed
- Only 31% of organizations operate a centralized, highly automated security ecosystem
- 47% say their organization would not respond to a serious security incident as quickly as it should
The Security Maturity Benchmark Report is designed for corporate security leaders, business continuity professionals, risk managers, and executive stakeholders seeking to benchmark their programs against industry peers and better understand the operational foundations required for resilience at scale.
Additional findings include:
- Mature organizations prioritize integrated technology ecosystems that unify threat detection, communication, and incident response
- Organizations with centralized security ecosystems are more than 3.5x more likely to operate proactively rather than reactively
- Communication breakdowns and fragmented workflows remain among the most common readiness failures in less mature programs
The report also includes five strategic imperatives organizations can use to strengthen their security maturity, and insights on how to close the gap between reactive and resilient.
Catch more CIO Insights: What Does “Job-Ready” Really Mean in IT and Cybersecurity?
[To share your insights with us, please write to psen@itechseries.com ]
