Tech Complexity Puts UK Cybersecurity at Risk

The ever-increasing complexity of technologies that security leaders have to manage can be daunting and impacts their ability to keep their systems secure.

According to Palo Alto Networks’ latest research, published on March 13 at the provider’s Ignite event in London, almost two-thirds (64%) of UK organizations cited technology complexity and a lack of interoperability as the most significant challenge towards building a sophisticated security posture.

One major issue is the fragmentation of security solutions, which 50% of UK respondents agreed limits their ability to deal with threats. Almost half of UK respondents also said security solution fragmentation is responsible for rising training costs (48%) and procurement expenses (44%).

The personal impact of fragmentation on staff is also apparent, with 48% of UK respondents saying fragmentation has increased workloads for security operators and 39% saying it contributes to rising staff attrition levels.

Scott McKinnon, Chief Security Officer, UK & Ireland at Palo Alto Networks, commented: “With the proliferation of solutions, the task at hand is to simplify and integrate tools to ensure they are interoperable and working within a connected ecosystem.”

Lagging Security Tool Consolidation

Nevertheless, the Palo Alto study reveals that UK security leaders are not entirely ready for a fully platformized approach to security – where an organization uses one central platform with many features, generally from one provider and its partners, rather than opting for a multi-solution approach.

Although 90% of UK organizations are open to a platform-based approach to security, only 41% have either fully consolidated or mostly consolidated their cyber solutions on security platforms, the research found.

AI the Top Cyber Risk

AI is UK security leaders’ main concern, with AI-based threats ranked as the most significant cyber risk in 2025, cited by 62% of UK-based respondents. Only data privacy and regulatory compliance ranked higher in the UK (both 68%).

However, despite the fears, a large majority of UK security leaders (82%) are confident in their use of AI.