A survey from Naoris Protocol has highlighted deep concerns among IT leaders regarding cyber security weaknesses and preparedness, warning that businesses are facing a “seismic” shift as enterprises decentralise infrastructure to enhance resilience, security and operational efficiency.
In October 2024, the survey from the digital security infrastructure provider interviewed 100 IT directors at companies with annual turnover of $300m or more based in the US, UK, European Union and APAC regions.
The deep concerns regarding cyber security weaknesses and preparedness offered a stark outlook that underscores the urgency with which IT leaders are acting to address vulnerabilities exposed by an increasingly hostile digital threat landscape, said the report.
The company said that centralised cyber security solutions created single points of failure for networks, exposing vulnerable devices to attacks and breaches from multiple adversaries. In addition, centralised cloud services further concentrate risk, while weak endpoint detection leaves systems vulnerable.
Network resilience emerged as the top priority, cited by 70% of IT directors as crucial to their current cyber security strategy. Data management efficiency also ranks highly, cited by 39% of respondents, reflecting the need to transform compute and storage solutions. Scalability – essential for meeting the exploding demand of internet of things (IoT) ecosystems – is identified as a key advantage by 31%.
The survey highlights specific blockchain and AI-driven security enhancements most valued by IT leaders. Specifically, 34% named continuous real-time validation – a hallmark of blockchain technology – as the most promising security development, and 20% emphasised eliminating single points of failure as a critical advantage. Just over two-fifths (42%) stressed the importance of AI integration for dynamic, real-time threat detection, a key driver for securing both Web2 and Web3 digital environments.
The upshot of the findings was that Naoris Protocol cyber security now firmly dominates corporate agendas globally. It added that the survey was prompting rapid investment in decentralised physical infrastructure networks (DePIN) to safeguard critical infrastructure.
DePIN is a blockchain-powered technology that decentralises physical infrastructure such as cloud, network nodes, data storage and edge devices. The technology is said to be able to mitigate these risks by transforming devices into secure validator nodes that continuously validate each other, enabling a zero-trust, always-validated data architecture. It is also attributed with being particularly suited for resilience against sophisticated cyber attacks, system failure and the “alarming” rise of AI-powered hacking tools.
The survey revealed that as many of the 73% IT directors now classify DePIN as “extremely important” to their cyber security strategy. An additional 25% view it as significantly important, highlighting an industry at a critical inflection point.
IT directors in the survey emphasised DePIN’s security and trust attributes as the primary attraction, in addition to other noted benefits such as operational efficiency and scalability. Around 31% of respondents foresee their organisation’s DePIN projects increasing by over 50% within two years, underscoring heightened urgency and investment.
Assessing the findings of the report, David Carvalho, CEO and founder of Naoris Protocol, warned that the cyber security landscape was reaching a critical tipping point. “IT directors at major global firms clearly recognise the threats posed by increasingly sophisticated and AI-driven cyber attack,s and are urgently adopting DePIN technologies to mitigate these risks,” he said. “We are witnessing a seismic shift as enterprises decentralise infrastructure, dramatically enhancing resilience, security and operational efficiency.”
