The latest research from Absolute Security highlights significant financial impacts, noting that downtime costs can average $19 million per hour when endpoint devices fail. Alarmingly, while 88% of respondents acknowledged that autonomous recovery capabilities could significantly reduce these costs, only 4% claimed their organisations to be "broadly autonomous."
Absolute Security, known for its work in Autonomous Cyber Resilience, has released its third annual report titled "Autonomous Cyber Resilience in the Era of AI." The report, part of the State of Enterprise Cyber Resilience series, features insights from a Censuswide survey of 1,000 Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) divided equally between the United States and the United Kingdom.
AI and agentic tools in cybersecurity
"Downtime is the real cost of a breach, it often exceeds every other related cost and is capable of permanently damaging a business," stated Christy Wyatt, President & CEO of Absolute Security. She emphasised the increased threat from AI and automated tools, urging security leaders to adopt similarly advanced solutions to counteract these challenges effectively.
The report delves into the current use of autonomous security and recovery systems, identifying trust issues and obstacles that hinder progress against cyber threats. The findings suggest that achieving effective cyber resilience demands solutions that can detect, respond to, and recover from incidents as quickly as they occur.
AI-accelerated vulnerability exploitation
The research reveals that 41% of organisations encountered AI-accelerated exploitation of vulnerabilities
The research reveals that 41% of organisations encountered AI-accelerated exploitation of vulnerabilities in the last year. Among security leaders surveyed, 58% agreed that attackers using AI are weaponising vulnerabilities faster than the patching processes can keep up.
Trust remains the most significant barrier to adopting production-system autonomy, cited by 38% of respondents, surpassing concerns about integration complexity (33%) and budget constraints (18%). Regarding tools like Anthropic Mythos, 43% viewed them as too risky for their organisations, while opinions were divided with 32% disagreeing and 25% undecided. Notably, 41% believed such tools should be restricted until better understood.
Challenges in autonomous solutions
Christy Wyatt further explained, "Trust in autonomous solutions remains among the top barriers standing between enterprises and the recovery speed they need to minimise downtime." This study aims to equip security leaders with insights to better understand their risks and potentially embrace autonomous recovery strategies.
For those interested in learning more about preventing downtime, Absolute Security's experts will be available at the Black Hat 2026 conference in Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas, at booth 5526.
Downtime costs reach $19 million per hour on average when endpoint devices become inoperable, according to Absolute Security’s latest research. This level of loss is especially alarming when considering that 88% reported that autonomous recovery capabilities would enable a measurable reduction in the cost of downtime incidents, while only 4% described their organisations as “broadly autonomous.”
Absolute Security, an Autonomous Cyber Resilience pioneer, publishes the third volume in its State of Enterprise Cyber Resilience research series: Autonomous Cyber Resilience in the Era of AI. The report features results from a survey conducted by Censuswide that includes 1,000 Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) based in the United States (500) and the United Kingdom (500).
Leveraging AI and agentic tools
“Downtime is the real cost of a breach, it often exceeds every other related cost and is capable of permanently damaging a business,” said Christy Wyatt, President & CEO, Absolute Security. “With threat actors now leveraging AI and agentic tools to launch attacks and spot vulnerabilities at rates previously unimaginable, security and risk leaders are faced with either continuing to fall victim to costly disruptions or deploying solutions that operate with the same speed and efficiency as those being used against them.”
Revealed in the report are additional findings that highlight the state of autonomous security and recovery solutions in use and the trust challenges and barriers causing organisations to lag cybercriminals. This research suggests that closing that gap will require cyber resilience capable of detecting, responding to, and recovering from disruptions at the same speed as the attacks themselves. Among several top takeaways:
AI-accelerated vulnerability exploitation
Forty-one percent of organisations experienced AI-accelerated vulnerability exploitation in the past 12 months, with 58% of leaders in agreement that AI-assisted attackers are weaponising vulnerabilities faster than patching processes can address them.
For production-system autonomy, trust ranks as the top-cited barrier (38%), ahead of integration complexity (33%) and budget (18%). When asked whether Anthropic Mythos and similar tools presented too much risk for their organisations to consider using, 43% agreed, while 32% disagreed and 25% had no opinion. Further underscoring these concerns, 41% agreed the tools should be blocked within their organisations until more is known about how they work, while 30% disagreed and 29% had no opinion.
Production-system autonomy
"Trust in autonomous solutions remains among the top barriers standing between enterprises and the recovery speed they need to minimise downtime. This research will help security leaders see the risk they're up against and give them the confidence needed to cross the bridge to autonomous recovery," continued Wyatt.
To discover more about how Absolute Security stops downtime, meet the Cyber Resilience experts at Black Hat 2026, Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas, booth 5526.
