Acora has reported a significant surge in demand for its Cyber Incident Baseline Assessments, driven by the continued rise in cyber attacks and increasing regulatory pressure on organisations to demonstrate operational cyber resilience. The trend reflects a growing urgency among senior decision-makers to gain deeper, real-time insights into their organisation’s security posture.
As cyber threats become more frequent and complex, businesses are finding it increasingly difficult to rely on traditional, point-in-time security assessments. Attackers are now exploiting interconnected systems, supply chains, and cloud environments, creating dynamic risk landscapes that evolve rapidly across organisations.
In response, many organisations are shifting toward continuous, threat-led risk analysis. Cyber Incident Baseline Assessments are designed to map how threats can move through an organisation’s environment, providing a more realistic view of potential attack scenarios. This approach is gaining traction, particularly as regulatory frameworks such as DORA and NIS2 push businesses to strengthen their incident response capabilities.
James Fernley, Director of Cyber Security at Acora, highlighted the shift in mindset among organisations. He noted that businesses are now seeking deeper, forward-looking insights rather than static snapshots, with a focus on understanding real attack paths and hidden system vulnerabilities.
According to Acora, 25 organisations have undertaken these assessments over the past year to better understand their cyber risk exposure. The company has also recorded more than a 100% increase in demand for Cyber Incident Baseline and Readiness Assessments, reflecting heightened concerns around emerging threats such as AI-driven attacks, AI-enabled fraud, and increasingly sophisticated double extortion ransomware.
In one recent assessment, Acora identified more than 15 million potential breach paths within a single organisation’s environment, while also highlighting opportunities to reduce risk exposure by up to 95%. These breach paths represent the various routes attackers could take to exploit vulnerabilities across interconnected systems.
The rise in demand signals a broader shift at the board level, where business leaders are seeking data-driven insights into how their organisations would withstand real-world cyber incidents. There is a growing expectation for continuous monitoring and actionable intelligence, rather than reliance on periodic testing.
While annual penetration testing remains a recognised security practice, its limitations are becoming more apparent. Many organisations are now questioning their effectiveness in capturing the full scope of modern cyber risk, as it provides only a snapshot in time rather than an understanding of how threats evolve and propagate.
As a result, businesses are increasingly adopting continuous, data-driven assessments that model real-world attacker behaviour. These assessments analyse how risks connect across infrastructure, cloud systems, and user activity, enabling organisations to prioritise vulnerabilities based on their potential impact.
Acora emphasises that this approach offers a more comprehensive view of cyber resilience, moving beyond isolated technical controls to reveal how vulnerabilities interact within complex environments. This deeper level of insight allows organisations to make more informed decisions about risk mitigation and security investments.
The demand for these advanced assessments has continued into early 2026, particularly among organisations operating in highly regulated sectors. With boards under increasing pressure to demonstrate clear oversight of cyber risk, continuous assessment models are quickly becoming a critical component of modern cybersecurity strategies.
Recommended Cyber Technology News :
- Persistent Databricks AI Boosts Merchant Risk Management
- Providers Risk Management Association Enhances Risk Services with Muir Analytics
- KnowBe4 AI Agent Enhances Human Risk Management
To participate in our interviews, please write to our CyberTech Media Room at info@intentamplify.com
🔒 Login or Register to continue reading


