Executive Summary

The 2025 State of Ransomware Survey from CrowdStrike paints a concerning picture of the modern threat landscape, revealing that a vast majority of organizations are falling behind in the race against Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven adversaries. A striking 76% of 1,100 IT and cybersecurity leaders surveyed admit their organizations cannot defend at the speed of AI-powered attacks. The report also uncovers a significant disconnect between perception and reality, with high leadership confidence in ransomware readiness despite high rates of successful attacks. The findings serve as a clear call to action for businesses to abandon legacy security models and embrace AI-powered defensive technologies to stand a chance against today's hyper-accelerated threats.

Regulatory Details

While this is a survey report and not a regulation, it outlines the de facto requirements for modern cyber defense in an AI-driven world. The key findings imply a new standard of care for organizations:

• Speed is Paramount: The core challenge is the speed of attack. Adversaries use AI to automate reconnaissance, develop malware, and craft convincing phishing lures, collapsing the 'breakout time'—the window defenders have to react—to mere minutes.
• AI Defense is Essential: An overwhelming 89% of security leaders now view AI-powered protection as an essential capability, not a luxury. This indicates a market consensus that traditional, signature-based defenses are obsolete.
• Ransom Payments are Ineffective: The survey reinforces that paying a ransom is a losing strategy. 83% of organizations that paid were attacked again, and 93% had their data stolen regardless, confirming the untrustworthiness of cybercriminals.

Affected Organizations

The survey included 1,100 senior IT and cybersecurity decision-makers from a wide range of industries across the globe, including the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, India, Singapore, and Australia. The findings are broadly applicable to any medium-to-large enterprise.

Compliance Requirements

To align with the realities presented in the report, organizations must pivot their security strategies. The implied requirements are:

1. Adopt AI-Powered Defenses: Implement security platforms that use AI and machine learning to detect and respond to threats in real-time. This includes next-generation antivirus (NGAV), endpoint detection and response (EDR), and identity protection tools that can analyze behavior at machine speed.
2. Focus on Proactive Threat Hunting: Shift from a reactive posture to proactive threat hunting, using intelligence and technology to find adversaries in the network before they can execute their final attack.
3. Align Leadership and Technical Teams: Bridge the 'confidence illusion' by providing boards and executive leadership with realistic, data-driven metrics on cyber readiness, rather than subjective confidence scores.

Impact Assessment

The primary impact highlighted by the survey is the widening gap between attacker capabilities and defender readiness.

• Increased Breach Velocity: AI allows attackers to move through the attack lifecycle faster than human-led security teams can respond, leading to more frequent and more damaging breaches.
• Ineffective Security Spending: Organizations clinging to legacy security tools are investing in technology that is fundamentally incapable of stopping modern threats, resulting in wasted budget and a false sense of security.
• The 'Confidence Illusion': 76% of respondents reported a disconnect between leadership's perceived readiness and the organization's actual preparedness. This dangerous gap means strategic decisions are being made based on flawed assumptions, leaving organizations exposed.

Compliance Guidance

To address the challenges raised by the CrowdStrike report, organizations should take the following steps:

1. Benchmark Your Response Time: Measure your organization's mean time to detect (MTTD) and mean time to respond (MTTR). Compare this against the breakout times of modern adversaries. If your response time is measured in hours or days, you are critically vulnerable.
2. Invest in an AI-Native Security Platform: Evaluate and invest in a consolidated security platform that leverages AI across endpoints, cloud workloads, identity, and data. This is essential for achieving the speed and visibility needed for modern defense.
3. Re-evaluate Your Ransomware Policy: Based on the data showing the ineffectiveness of paying ransoms, boards should re-evaluate their stance. Focus investment on prevention, detection, and recovery capabilities rather than budgeting for ransom payments.