Half of Firms Stall Digital Projects as Cyber Warfare Risk Surges

Critical digital transformation projects are being delayed and halted due to a perceived increase in the risk of state-sponsored cyber-attacks, according to Armis.

The security vendor’s 2025 Armis Cyberwarfare Report is based on a study of over 1800 global IT decision-makers (ITDMs), including 501 from the UK, and proprietary data from Armis Labs.

It found that 49% of responding UK organizations have experienced disruption to digital projects due to the threat of “cyber warfare” attacks.

Some 88% of UK ITDMs said they were concerned about the impact of nation-state cyber-attacks on their organization – a massive 32% jump from the previous year.

Additionally, 47% said they’d experienced an attack already and reported it to the authorities, and 68% are reconsidering suppliers as a result of mounting geopolitical tensions.

Read more on nation-state threats: UK AI Research Under Threat from Nation-State Hackers

However, the efforts of network defenders are being hampered by regulations and skills gaps.

Over half (52%) of UK ITDMs said that complex regulations have overwhelmed their security teams, while nearly half (48%) admitted they lack in-house expertise to use AI-powered security tools. A similar share (50%) cited budget and resource constraints as limiting their AI investments.

“Businesses are facing a perfect storm of nation-state attacks, AI-powered threats and crippling ransomware payments,” said Andy Norton, European cyber risk officer at Armis.

“Yet, 58% only respond to attacks as they happen or after damage is done. The cost of inaction is abundantly clear – to stay on top of evolving threats, businesses must shift to a proactive cybersecurity posture to eliminate vulnerabilities before they can be exploited.”

Unsurprising, China (74%), Russia (71%) and North Korea (37%) were cited as posing the biggest cyber-threats to UK organizations.

Security experts have long argued that digital transformation projects only stand a chance of lasting success if built on solid and secure foundations.

In 2023, a quarter of IT leaders told Telstra that security is the most important factor in business transformation – ahead of business processes (17%), employee commitment (16%), leadership buy-in (14%) and external investment and funding (13%).