While security team are contending with rising tasks and severe staffing problems, new research shows practitioners are also charging forward and meeting targets.
In a new , 88 % of InfoSec officials said their teams are exceeding targets, and a key factor here lies in the adoption of new AI devices and technology.
The research found that six-in-ten officials work with groups consisting of 10 specialists or fewer. However, 72 % said that they’d been expected to take on more work over the last year, and a quarter said they’d had to work evenings or weekends.
Almost all were passionate about AI, with sole one-in-twenty worried about their work. Importantly, they want to see AI and robotics eliminate company siloes, with almost all looking to connect these equipment across protection, IT, and functions.
The most common AI use cases so far include controlling safety data, with around a third of teams using AI for summary, threat intelligence research, or threat detection.
If they were only able to use AI and robotics to free up more time, 43 % said they’d use it to focus more on security policy development, with a similar number saying they’d do more on training and development, and 38 % on event response planning.
That’s easier said than done, yet. Tines ‘ investigation revealed a third of security officials are worried about the time required to train their team on AI, with a third citing compliance as a problem.
Another hurdles included AI illusions, safe AI implementation, and slower than expected application times.
” Security experts, who now face an unprecedented risk environment in 2025, are met with the difficult process to integrate It across their workflows”, said Matt Muller, area at Tines.
” Our studies shows that safety team are stepping up. But, institutions may acquire a flexible approach to robotics and to ensure it remains secure and effective”.
Tool sprawl remains a problem in cybersecurity
A key barrier to productivity in security teams is tool sprawl, according to the study from Tines. More than half of teams typically manage 20 to 49 tools, while 23 % use fewer than 20, and 22 % use 50 to 99.
But only a third of security leaders said they were satisfied with their team’s tools, with a quarter struggling with poor integration, and a third reckoning their stack lacks key functionality.
” Siloed automation across departments complicates managing security programs and creates vulnerabilities, especially as less technical employees adopt these technologies”, said Christopher Kissel, research vice president, security and trust products at IDC Research, which carried out the research.
” The we surveyed are strongly in favor of embracing shared automation between security and closely-knit business units like IT and DevOps to improve collaboration, strengthen security posture, streamline operations, and reduce complexity”.
, with a report last year from Google Workspace finding that teams with ten or more security tools .
That didn’t stop IT leaders from introducing them, however, with nearly two-thirds admitting to adding new security tools as they go along.