Executive summary While the 2024 edition of the Global Cybersecurity Outlook highlighted the growing inequity in cyberspace, this year’s report shines a light on the increasing complexity of the cyber landscape, which has profound and far-reaching implications for organizations and nations. This complexity is driven by a series of compounding factors: –Escalating geopolitical tensions are contributing to a more uncertain environment. –Increased integration of and dependence on more complex supply chains is leading to a more opaque and unpredictable risk landscape. –The rapid adoption of emerging technologies is contributing to new vulnerabilities as cybercriminals harness them effectively to achieve greater sophistication and scale. –Simultaneously, the proliferation of regulatory requirements around the world is adding a significant compliance burden for organizations. All of these challenges are exacerbated by a widening skills gap, making it extremely challenging to manage cyber risks effectively.In a complex cyberspace characterized by geopolitical uncertainties, widening cyber inequity and sophisticated cyberthreats, leaders must adopt a security-first mindset. Geopolitical tensions CybercrimeCyber skills gap AI and requirements interdependenciesComplexity in cybersecurity sophisticationemerging tech Regulatory Supply chain The growing complexity of cyberspace is exacerbating cyber inequity, widening the gap between large and small organizations, deepening the divide between developed and emerging economies, and expanding sectoral disparities.1 Some 35% of small organizations believe their cyber resilience is inadequate, a proportion that has increased sevenfold since 2022. By contrast, the share of large organizations reporting insufficient cyber resilience has nearly halved.Factors compounding the complex nature of cybersecurity FIGURE A Global Cybersecurity Outlook 2025 4