Irish entities expose themselves to expensive cyber security attacks due to their inadequate defensive strategies, a recent analysis has cautioned. PwC’s 2025 Digital Trust Insights Survey reports that a mere 28% of businesses have deployed what is considered comprehensive cyber resilience strategies, a percentage lower than the global median of 33%.
Even though 74% of Irish organisations rank cyber risk avoidance as a priority, their financial commitment to this cause appears to be less than their worldwide peers. A mere two-thirds of these businesses aim to augment their cybersecurity budget, whilst the global rate stands at 77%.
Data breaches incur an average cost of about €3 million according to PwC, with third-party data breaches being the primary concern for Irish organisations for the second year in a row. Leonard McAuliffe, Cybersecurity Partner at PwC Ireland, notes that it is alarming that fewer than a third of Irish organisations have initiated thorough cyber resilience procedures, considering the steep cost of cyber infringements.
PwC’s survey engaged over 4,000 business and tech executives across 71 nations, inclusive of Ireland, to assess the evolution of the technology and security environment. This includes generative AI, an emerging field where 78% of global participants reveal an escalated investment over the past year. While AI helps businesses with threat detection and malware prevention, it also enhances cyber attack vulnerabilities, with almost 40% of global respondents facing challenges while integrating generative AI with their existing systems. Trust and the absence of sufficient internal controls pose an obstacle to its effective implementation, as reported by 38% of businesses.
Irish establishments are feeling somewhat insecure about their compliance capabilities in relation to the impending cyber regulations, including the EU Network and Information Security Directive (NIS2), the AI Act, and the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA), in contrast to their international counterparts.
“Unquestionably, organisations that place the right emphasis on cybersecurity gain a significant market edge over those that don’t,” asserted Moira Cronin, PwC Ireland’s Digital Risk Partner. The survey distinctly underlines GenAI as an advantageous tool for cyber defence, specifically for detecting threats. Despite Irish companies needing to work harder to comply with new cyber regulations, there is widespread agreement that such rules are concurrently pushing investment.”