Observability company Gigamon has released a report detailing the 2025 priorities of CISOs and security leaders amid budget pressures and rising cyber threats.
The report, CISO Insights: Closing the Cybersecurity Preparedness Gap, based on the company’s 2024 Hybrid Cloud Security Survey, highlights the current state of cybersecurity based on responses from 234 CISOs in Australia, France, Germany, Singapore, UK, and the USA.
The Gigamon report data reveals a widening security gap, with CISOs falling behind as cybercriminals outpace their organisation’s cybersecurity defences. Despite global information security spending projected to reach USD215 billion in 2024, 44% of global CISOs revealed they could not detect a data breach in the last 12 months using existing security tools. CISOs identified blind spots as a key issue, with 70% of CISOs stating their existing security tools are not as effective as they could be when it comes to detecting breaches due to limited visibility.
“Modern cybersecurity is about differentiating between acceptable and unacceptable risk,” says Gigamon CSO Chaim Mazal. “Our research shows where CISOs are drawing that line, highlighting the critical importance of visibility into all data-in-motion to secure complex hybrid cloud infrastructure against today’s emerging threats. It’s clear current approaches aren’t keeping pace, which is why CISOs must re-evaluate tool stacks and reprioritises investments and resources to more confidently secure their infrastructure.”
As organisations revisit security strategies this Cybersecurity Awareness Month, the Gigamon survey data highlights the following focus areas CISOs are prioritising as they plan for 2025.
Gain Visibility into Data-in-Motion
Blind spots across hybrid cloud infrastructure are a top concern for 8 out of 10 CISOs, with 81% agreeing that cloud security is dependent upon gaining complete visibility into all data-in-motion. This includes visibility into lateral (East-West) traffic and encrypted traffic, where 93% of malware hides today, creating a perfect opportunity for cyber criminals to breach a network. As a result, gaining visibility into encrypted traffic was listed as a priority for 84% of CISOs.
Optimise Existing Security Investments
Over investment in new security tools has led security teams to struggle with sprawling tool stacks. Coupled with the growing costs associated with data storage and management, CISOs are under immense pressure to optimise their existing security investments. Three-quarters of CISOs report being overwhelmed by the increasing volume of threats detected from a growing number of tools on an increasing number of assets. As a result, six in ten CISOs listed tool consolidation and optimisation as their number one priority for remediating blind spots.
Support AI Investments to Counter Growing AI Cyber Threats
CISOs are increasingly concerned about the potential for AI to fuel the growth of global ransomware threats, with 83% expecting a significant impact in the coming year. While deepfakes have garnered much attention, the more pressing threat is the volume and quality of cyberattacks that AI can enable. AI is empowering novice attackers with advanced capabilities and accelerating the discovery of exploitation techniques, underscoring the need for greater, more comprehensive visibility.
Achieve Deep Observability Across Cloud Infrastructure
As CISOs evaluate increasingly complex hybrid cloud environments, greater visibility is the common goal, with 82% agreeing that deep observability, the ability to deliver network-derived intelligence and analysis to cloud, security, and observability tools, is a foundational element of cloud security. This need is even more pronounced in Singapore, where the figure rises to 87%, the highest among Asia Pacific countries surveyed.
Deep observability goes beyond traditional monitoring, providing real-time insights into all network traffic based on network telemetry, including encrypted data and lateral traffic. This comprehensive view is crucial for identifying and mitigating cyber threats in real time, which is why 85% of CISOs agree that having access to packet-level data and rich application metadata can unlock deeper insights, strengthening security posture.
The importance of this comprehensive visibility is also reaching the boardroom, with 81% of CISOs reporting that their boards are discussing deep observability as a priority to better secure and manage hybrid cloud infrastructure, reinforcing its importance for 2025 budget planning.
“Today’s CISOs recognise that security and observability are intrinsically connected,” said IDC Group VP Stephen Elliott. “The network provides a crucial layer of context that can inform security operations and vice versa, which is why modern security teams are leveraging network-derived intelligence and insights to understand the true impact of a threat and prioritise their responses accordingly.”
You can read the full report here.
