CISOs Bet on Metadata as Key to 2026 Cyber Defense
▼ Summary
– Global CISOs are prioritizing real-time threat monitoring and visibility as their top security strategy, yet 97% admit to making compromises in visibility gaps and data quality.
– AI is viewed as both a major security challenge due to AI-driven threats and an opportunity to enhance security teams, with 73% of CISOs considering AI to compensate for staff shortages.
– 75% of CISOs believe public cloud poses the greatest security risk, leading many organizations to rethink data storage, including 73% considering repatriating data to private cloud.
– CISOs are focusing on leveraging network metadata and ensuring data-in-motion visibility to address AI-generated data volumes, with 52% prioritizing metadata use to improve tool effectiveness.
– Deep observability, combining network telemetry and log data, is considered essential by 82% of CISOs for securing AI deployments and closing visibility gaps in hybrid cloud environments.
A new study focusing on global Chief Information Security Officers reveals that metadata is emerging as the cornerstone of cybersecurity defense strategies projected for 2026. These security leaders are actively reshaping their approaches to protect hybrid cloud infrastructure in an era increasingly dominated by artificial intelligence. The research indicates that AI is viewed as the most transformative technology, influencing both business innovation and the tactics of cyber adversaries. Over two hundred CISOs from nations including the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Singapore, and Australia participated, highlighting a significant shift in how they handle data, secure AI-powered applications, and develop their security operations teams.
The findings, detailed in a report titled “CISO Insights: Recalibrating Risk in the Age of AI,” show that as AI accelerates digital transformation and simultaneously escalates the frequency and sophistication of cyberattacks, the clarity and quality of data have become absolutely vital for defending complex hybrid cloud systems. To keep up with this evolving landscape, CISOs require deeper insights, especially as soaring network traffic volumes introduce greater complexity. An overwhelming 86 percent of surveyed CISOs identified the combination of packet-level data with metadata as essential for strengthening their current security posture. They see metadata as a scalable solution for extracting critical security signals from the massive and rapidly growing streams of data.
Achieving comprehensive visibility remains the highest priority for optimizing defense-in-depth strategies, with CISOs emphasizing the need for real-time threat monitoring and insight into all data moving across their networks. However, a striking 97 percent of these executives acknowledge they are forced to make compromises. These concessions typically involve visibility gaps, poor integration between security tools, and inconsistent data quality, all of which significantly hamper their ability to effectively secure and manage hybrid cloud environments.
Chaim Mazal, Gigamon’s chief AI and security officer, commented on the dual nature of AI. “As we look toward 2026, AI represents one of the most significant challenges but also one of the most promising opportunities for security leaders,” he stated. “The surge in AI-driven ransomware, sophisticated social engineering, and the uncontrolled use of shadow AI applications has put many organizations on the defensive. This is precisely why our research shows that visibility has climbed to the top of the CISO agenda. Concurrently, AI provides a powerful means to augment the capabilities of security teams, restore visibility and control, and fundamentally change how companies structure and fund their defensive measures, leading to more resilient security overall.”
(Source: ITWire Australia)
