2026 Cloud Security Report Data Reveals 'Complexity Gap'
Fortinet, Wednesday, January 21st, 2026
As more and more enterprises catapult into an AI-powered future, cloud security is more critical than ever to an organization's success and, perhaps even, survival. The velocity of AI adoption is fundamentally changing how cloud environments are managed and expanding the attack surface at a speed that outpaces traditional security models and teams' ability to protect modern deployments.
Structural Mismatch
The 2026 State of Cloud Security Report, sponsored by Fortinet and produced by Cybersecurity Insiders and based upon a comprehensive survey of 1,163 senior cybersecurity leaders and professionals worldwide, reveals a burgeoning cloud complexity gap in the structural mismatch between the velocity of this modern environment and security teams' ability to maintain consistent visibility, detection, and response in real time.
The growing chasm between cloud complexity and resilience is not due to a lack of investment. Our survey of these experts indicates that while cybersecurity spend is increasing, the maturity and effectiveness of cyber defenses are not keeping pace with the many new use cases that today often include an AI element.