Global Cybersecurity Outlook 2024

The Global Cybersecurity Outlook 2024 highlights a growing 'cyber inequity' where small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are falling behind larger organizations in resilience. This divide is exacerbated by a critical shortage of cyber skills and the rapid adoption of generative AI, which executives believe will primarily benefit attackers. The report emphasizes that systemic risk is increasing due to supply chain vulnerabilities, with 41% of material incidents caused by third parties. While alignment between business and cyber leaders is improving, the report calls for a shift toward 'secure by design' principles and greater public-private cooperation to protect the most vulnerable entities in the global digital ecosystem.

• A significant 'cyber inequity' has emerged, characterized by a disappearing middle group of organizations that maintain minimum viable cyber resilience, which has decreased by 31% since 2022.
• Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are disproportionately affected by the cyber resilience gap; they are more than twice as likely as the largest organizations to lack the resilience needed for critical operational requirements.
• Generative AI is perceived as a primary threat that will likely advantage attackers over defenders in the next two years, with particular concerns regarding the advancement of phishing, malware, and deepfakes.
• The cybersecurity skills shortage is widening, with 20% of organizations stating they lack the skills to meet cyber objectives and 78% reporting they lack the in-house skills to fully achieve these goals.
• There is a strong correlation between organizational cyber resilience and CEO engagement; 93% of leaders in resilient organizations trust their CEO to speak externally about cyber risk, compared to only 23% in non-resilient organizations.
• Supply chain vulnerabilities represent a major systemic risk, with 54% of organizations reporting an insufficient understanding of vulnerabilities in their supply chain and 41% of material incidents in the past year caused by a third party.
• Geopolitical instability continues to influence cybersecurity strategies, with 70% of leaders stating it has at least moderately influenced their approach.
• Cyber insurance adoption is heavily skewed by organization size; 85% of organizations with over 100,000 employees carry insurance, while only 21% of those with 250 or fewer employees do.
• Securing legacy technology is a primary barrier to resilience for the largest organizations, with 44% of respondents identifying it as their highest hurdle.

APA

World Economic Forum (2024). Global Cybersecurity Outlook 2024. https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Global_Cybersecurity_Outlook_2024.pdf

Chicago

World Economic Forum. Global Cybersecurity Outlook 2024. 2024. https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Global_Cybersecurity_Outlook_2024.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Economic Forum |title=Global Cybersecurity Outlook 2024 |date=January 2024 |url=https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Global_Cybersecurity_Outlook_2024.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldeconomicforum2024global, author = {{World Economic Forum}}, title = {{Global Cybersecurity Outlook 2024}}, institution = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2024}, month = jan, url = {https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Global_Cybersecurity_Outlook_2024.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }