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For incident detection and remediation, 67% of sysadmins predicted full automation by 2026 while 19% report implementation today.

For compliance analysis, 62% of sysadmins predicted full automation by 2026 while 28% report implementation today.

AI use is highest among sysadmins in log analysis (50%) and troubleshooting (47%).

In 2025, macOS vulnerabilities increased by more than 1,000% across enterprise environments.

In 2025, privilege escalation vulnerabilities in security software jumped 107%.

In 2025, vulnerabilities in security software rose 39%.

Two-thirds of school IT leaders worldwide rated their cybersecurity maturity as moderate.

74% of schools lack a dedicated cybersecurity specialist in 2025

89% of schools experienced at least one cyber incident in the past year, primarily phishing, unauthorized access, and malware.

As AI usage expands, reports of AI falling short include troubleshooting (30%) and log analysis (12%).

Only 22% of sysadmins say their organizations require AI use. This is up from 18% in 2024.

The majority (73%) of sysadmins still report no requirement for AI use within their organisations.

Total number of software vulnerabilities grew by 61% year-over-year (YoY) in 2024.

Linux vulnerabilities soared by 967% in 2024.

macOS vulnerabilities increased by 95% in 2024.

For patch management optimization, 67% of sysadmins predicted full automation by 2026 while only 16% report implementation today.

For server CPU and memory monitoring, 70% of sysadmins predicted full automation by 2026 while 20% report implementation today.

For vulnerability prioritization, 66% of sysadmins predicted full automation by 2026 while 17% report implementation today.

For log analysis, 83% of sysadmins predicted full automation by 2026 while 50% report implementation today.

In 2024, 52% of sysadmins predicted full automation within two years.

In 2026, 47% of sysadmins report using AI for troubleshooting.

The share of organizations requiring AI use rose from 15% in 2023 to 34% in 2026.

23% of sysadmins report never using AI professionally.

58% of sysadmins say they understand how to integrate AI into their work, up from 24% in 2023.

74% of sysadmins cite data privacy and accuracy concerns as barriers to AI adoption, 58% cite loss of control, 55% cite cost, and 24% cite job replacement.

51% of sysadmins trust AI to assess patch severity and 47% trust AI to schedule updates, while 17% would allow AI to independently decide when to patch production servers and 11% would permit AI to override existing patching policies.

Total disclosed software vulnerabilities in enterprise environments increased 92% year-over-year in 2025.

Remote code execution (RCE) vulnerabilities surged 128% year-over-year in 2025.

In 2025, macOS privilege escalation vulnerabilities increased 5,600%.

In 2025, network infrastructure critical vulnerabilities increased 235%.

Enterprise application exploitation surged 800% in 2025, making ERP, CRM, collaboration, and operational business platforms top targets.

In 2025, network infrastructure remote code execution (RCE) vulnerabilities rose 238%.

In 2025, network infrastructure elevation-of-privilege (EoP) vulnerabilities surged 266%.

In 2025, browser privilege escalation vulnerabilities surged 183%.

92% of school IT leaders expect AI-powered phishing to be the most dangerous threat in the coming year

Nearly 40% of schools feel underprepared for ransomware in 2025

High confidence in cybersecurity among school IT leaders dropped from 30% in 2024 to 18% in 2025

Half of school IT leaders view ransomware as a serious threat to learning continuity in 2025

Concerns about loss of control (60%) continue to slow AI adoption.

Concerns about AI's accuracy (79%) continue to slow adoption.

70% of sysadmins are actively seeking AI-related training.

45% of sysadmins now know how to use AI. This is up from 34% last year.

More sensitive functions remain largely untouched by AI implementation, such as SSO/password management (2%) and file management (5%).

Current implementation trends show AI operational use expanding in troubleshooting (41%) and log analysis (35%).

20% of AI implementations have caused operational disruptions.

Concerns about security risks (78%) continue to slow AI adoption.

Current implementation trends show AI operational use expanding in troubleshooting (41%) and log analysis (35%).

Critical vulnerabilities rose by 37.1% in 2024.

There was a 505% increase in critical flaws in database software.

There was a 213% YoY overall vulnerability growth in database software.