Nearly all federal IT decision-makers (93%) are concerned about how cyberwarfare will impact their agency, according to new research from Armis.
In its fourth annual State of Cyberwarfare report, cybersecurity company Armis reported that 57% said their agency had been hacked previously and still had not managed to secure its ecosystem adequately.
These numbers reflect responses from 100 federal IT leaders, the company said.
“We are witnessing a fundamental shift in the nature of cyber conflict, and if Federal agencies are too slow to adapt to adversary tactics, they’ll jeopardize the systems that underpin our country’s stability,” Col. Joe Wingo, director of Department of Defense business strategy at Armis, said in a statement.
“It’s essential that Federal security teams leverage solutions that outpace the adversary with proactive cyber exposure management so they can reduce risk and continuously protect mission-critical assets. The time to harden defenses is before the first shot is fired, not after the damage has already been done,” Wingo added.
Yet 60% of federal respondents said that digital transformation projects have stalled or completely stopped due to cyberwarfare risks, according to Armis’s research.
“Despite 90% of respondents saying they have implemented measures to detect and counter AI [artificial intelligence]-powered threats, 53% believe their agency lacks the necessary expertise to manage AI-powered security solutions,” Armis said. More than a third (39%) are still detecting and responding to significant attacks only as they happen or after they have already occurred.
Agencies are lagging in preparedness too, Armis found. The report said that 81% of federal respondents believe they are prepared to handle a cyberwarfare attack and other related threats, but 58% said their agency was impacted by an AI-generated or AI-led attack in the last year.
Federal IT leaders said AI and other emerging technologies are reshaping the cyber landscape, with concern rising over how quickly threats are evolving.
More than three-quarters said advances like AI and quantum computing could dramatically escalate cyber conflict, while 84% warn nation-states’ use of AI will further tilt the advantage toward attackers.
At the same time, 65% believe cybersecurity policy is struggling to keep pace with innovation. In response, agencies are doubling down on defense: 73% say zero trust is now core to their strategy, and 90% stress the importance of public-private collaboration to share threat intelligence and strengthen resilience.
“We are entering a transformative era of cybersecurity where the speed of innovation is the ultimate advantage. Agentic AI swarms represent the next leap in automation, capable of identifying and resolving complex vulnerabilities in seconds,” said Michael Freeman, head of threat intelligence at Armis.
“For Federal agencies, this is a call to modernize … To stay ahead, we must equip our human analysts with AI partners that can see through the noise and secure essential systems in real– time, ensuring our infrastructure remains as dynamic as the technology that powers it,” Freeman added.