Fortinet today announced findings from a new IDC survey revealing how Indian enterprises are putting Artificial Intelligence (AI) at the core of their cybersecurity strategy.
The study shows that AI has moved far beyond hype — becoming a critical enabler of speed, accuracy, and scale in security operations. It is now influencing hiring decisions, investment priorities, and organizational structures, marking a fundamental shift from reactive defence to predictive protection.
AI’s Expanding Role in Cybersecurity
AI is transforming both sides of the cyber battlefield. While defenders use AI to automate detection, accelerate response, and improve visibility, attackers are using it to craft faster, stealthier, and more adaptive threats.
According to the IDC study, 72% of organizations in India encountered AI-driven cyberattacks in the past year. Among them, 70% reported a 2X rise in threat volume, while 12% saw a 3X surge — underscoring how attackers are exploiting AI to evade detection and exploit process gaps.
From Pilot to Production: AI Becomes Operational
AI is now a daily reality for Indian cybersecurity teams. Over 90% of organizations surveyed already deploy AI in their security environments. Beyond detection, use cases are expanding to include automated response, predictive threat modeling, AI-driven incident response, and behavioral analytics.
Generative AI is emerging as a tool for “light-touch” functions such as rule updates, playbook execution, and social engineering detection. However, confidence in fully autonomous remediation remains limited — most teams remain in the “co-pilot” phase, favoring human oversight.
AI Skills Redefine Security Teams
The rise of AI-first cybersecurity is reshaping talent strategies. The top five emerging roles across India include security data scientists, threat intelligence analysts, AI security engineers, AI researchers, and AI-centric incident responders.
Organizations are not just adopting AI tools — they’re restructuring teams around AI capabilities, reflecting a broader shift toward technology-driven security models.
Spending Shifts: From Infrastructure to Intelligence
While 82% of organizations reported cybersecurity budget increases, most rises were modest — 64% under 5%, and 18% between 5–10%. The focus is moving from infrastructure-heavy spending to risk-centric investments in areas like identity security, network security, SASE/Zero Trust, cyber resilience, and cloud-native protection.
This shows a strategic pivot toward intelligent defence and sustainable operations rather than expansive tooling.
The Talent Crunch: Under-Resourced, Overwhelmed
Despite growing investment, most teams remain under-resourced. Only 6% of total employees work in IT, and just 13% of those focus on cybersecurity. Fewer than one in six organizations have a dedicated CISO, and only 6% operate specialized SOC or threat-hunting teams.
As threat volumes surge, burnout, tool sprawl, and talent retention have emerged as key barriers, intensifying the demand for smarter resource allocation and automation.
Convergence and Consolidation Drive Simplification
Nearly 88% of respondents are now integrating security and networking to improve visibility and efficiency. Meanwhile, 74% are pursuing vendor consolidation, not just to reduce costs but to improve integration, response speed, and security posture.
Convergence is becoming a strategic necessity — a way to unify fragmented operations into a single, adaptive defence fabric.
Expert Insights
Simon Piff, Research Vice-President, IDC Asia-Pacific, said:
“Organizations are no longer experimenting with AI — they are embedding it into detection, response, and team design. This marks a new era of smarter, faster, and more adaptive security operations.”
Vivek Srivastava, Country Manager, India & SAARC, Fortinet, added:
“CISOs in India are entering a more advanced phase where AI not only strengthens defences but also influences how teams, budgets, and priorities are structured. At Fortinet, we’re enabling this shift through platform-wide AI integration that delivers faster detection, smarter response, and greater resilience.”
