New research from Replica Cyber reveals that businesses are universally trading security for speed with every organization surveyed granting security exceptions to keep projects moving forward. The study findings also demonstrate that a lack of available, secure digital environments is slowing business growth.
Trading Safety for Speed: The Rise of the Exception Economy delivers clear evidence that the need for organizations to undertake high-risk digital work is expanding faster than infrastructure can keep pace. As a result, organizations are caught between business urgency and secure, compliant execution. Key findings of the report include:
- Exception culture is now standard operating procedure. 100 percent of organizations granted security or compliance exceptions in the past 12 months (63 percent formally, 33.5 percent through informal workarounds).
- Strategic initiatives are stalling, not just slowing. 39 percent of organizations delayed or cancelled market expansion, product launches, M&A, or AI deployment because the work couldn't be conducted securely. Twenty percent of high-risk work was cancelled entirely.
- Confidence in protecting critical assets during high-risk work is virtually non-existent. Just one in three cybersecurity leaders feels confident their IP, identities, or infrastructure are adequately protected during high-risk work.
The full report can be downloaded here.
