- Armis report: 54% of UK businesses will be affected by state-sponsored attacks by 2025
- IT Leaders Warn GenAI Is Raising Cyber War Risks
- Many lack the experience and budget to implement AI-powered defenses.
Last year, a record number of businesses in the UK were affected by state-sponsored threat actors, as IT leaders see Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) as the tool to exacerbate risks.
This is according to security researchers Armis, who have just published their Armis Cyberwarfare Report 2026. Based on interviews with almost 2,000 IT decision makers around the world, as well as proprietary data, Armis said that more than half of UK businesses (54%) reported having suffered a state-sponsored attack last year, up from 47% a year ago.
The vast majority (80%) believe that the current political situation significantly increases the risk of state-backed cyber attacks (up from 74% year-on-year), while almost all (92%) said they are concerned about the implications of an all-out cyber war. Three-quarters (76%) believe state-sponsored threat actors could severely damage critical infrastructure.
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More persistent cyber warfare with AI
At the same time, most respondents consider the rise of AI to be quite problematic. Two-thirds (69%) believe that weaponizing technology makes cyber conflicts more persistent, and half (48%) said their business suffered an AI-powered attack last year.
AI can also be used as a defense mechanism, but most companies are not there yet. Armis says 45% of respondents confirmed they lacked the expertise to implement and manage AI-based security solutions, and 46% said they lacked the adequate budget.
“Attackers operate at the speed of machines, while many organizations are still trying to defend with assumptions and structures designed for a very different threat landscape,” said Nadir Izrael, chief technology officer at Armis. “Nation-state capabilities, AI acceleration, and unresolved security gaps are converging. For many organizations, it is not a question of if they will face a cyberwarfare attack, but when and how truly prepared they are to defend themselves and their environment when it happens.”
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