“More than 91.7% of Indian enterprises cite data security and privacy risks as their most significant obstacle to scaling AI and analytics.”
Artificial Intelligence has moved far beyond pilots and proofs of concept. It is now embedded in everyday business, shaping how organizations compete, serve customers, and make decisions. The question is no longer whether to adopt AI, but how to scale it—faster, more effectively, and without compromising trust.
The State of Enterprise Technology Survey 2025, conducted by CIO&Leader, the sister publication of CISO Forum, highlights this paradox. Drawing insights from over 350 senior technology and cybersecurity leaders, the report shows that while enterprises recognize AI’s immense value, scaling it remains difficult. Skill gaps, cultural resistance, and identifying the right use cases pose hurdles, but the single biggest roadblock is security and privacy. A striking 91.7% of Indian enterprises cite these risks as their top concern.
The threat landscape reinforces this anxiety. Traditional risks like phishing, ransomware, and identity-based attacks continue to dominate, even as AI-driven threats—such as model poisoning, adversarial manipulation, and data leakage—are rapidly emerging.
The survey also highlights how enterprises are responding. Zero-trust frameworks, cloud-native controls, AI-powered detection tools, SOC modernization, and privileged access management are becoming central to enterprise defense strategies. These shifts underscore a critical truth: scaling AI is not just about scaling technology, it is about scaling trust.
For CISOs, this creates both a responsibility and an opportunity. In the AI era, they are no longer just defenders of infrastructure, they are the architects of trust. Their leadership will shape how confidently enterprises can harness AI.
To succeed, CISOs must drive the agenda on several fronts:
- Governance & compliance: Establishing strong AI governance frameworks, clear guidelines, and ensuring regulatory compliance.
- Workforce readiness: Building AI-aware teams by deploying the right tools, promoting ethical use, and nurturing a culture of risk awareness.
- Continuous oversight: Implementing monitoring systems that detect vulnerabilities and flag emerging security risks in real time.
- Stakeholder collaboration: Working closely with business leaders, data scientists, and regulators to align security priorities with enterprise ambitions.
In the end, AI will scale in enterprises only at the pace at which trust scales. And CISOs, standing at the intersection of risk, technology, and business, hold the keys to that future.
