NEW DELHI: Only 54% of the surveyed organisations in India are allocating a meaningful IT budget to cybersecurity despite a rise in cyber threats, particularly driven by artificial intelligence (AI), according to the findings of a latest Cisco survey released on Tuesday.

‘While 98% of organisations plan to upgrade their IT infrastructure, only 54% allocate more than 10% of their IT budget to cybersecurity (down 7% year-over-year), emphasising a critical need for more focused investment in comprehensive defense strategies,’ Cisco said in its findings.

The vendor said that AI is “revolutionising security and escalating threat levels”, with 95% of organisations facing AI-related security incidents last year.

However, only 66% of respondents are confident their employees fully understand AI-related threats, and 63% believe their teams fully grasp how malicious actors are using AI to execute sophisticated attacks. ‘This awareness gap leaves organisations critically exposed,’ Cisco said.

At the same time, 92% of respondents said the shortage of skilled cybersecurity professionals is a major challenge, with 65% reporting more than 10 positions to fill.

Cisco, in its report, has recommended fortifying cybersecurity across identity intelligence, machine trustworthiness, network resilience, cloud reinforcement, and AI fortification against cyber threats.

‘As AI transforms the enterprise, we are dealing with an entirely new class of risks at unprecedented scale - putting even more pressure on our infrastructure and those who defend it," said Cisco Chief Product Officer Jeetu Patel. ‘Organizations must rethink their strategies now or risk becoming irrelevant in the AI era.’

‘As cyberattacks grow in scale and sophistication, the risks now extend far beyond data loss—organisations face operational disruption, damage to brand reputation, and erosion of customer trust,’ said Samir Kumar Mishra, director (security business), Cisco India & SAARC.

‘Addressing the talent shortage and mitigating risks from unmanaged devices and shadow AI will be equally critical to building resilience and safeguarding trust in an increasingly digital world,’ Mishra said.

Cisco said its findings are based on a double-blind survey of 8,000 private sector security and business leaders in 30 global markets.