Enterprise security is undergoing a fundamental shift. As AI emerges, applications move to the cloud, and employees work from anywhere, traditional cybersecurity approaches just aren’t enough.
Hughes has identified six market trends reshaping enterprise security and driving CISOs towards Managed Secure Access Service Edge (SASE)—a modern framework that reduces IT complexity and costs, while enabling network and security operations at enterprise scale.
Market Trends Reshaping Cybersecurity
Trend 1: Escalating cyber threats
Cyber risk continues to intensify year over year. According to the World Economic Forum’s Global Cybersecurity Outlook 2025 , 72% of organizations report an increase in cyber risk since 2024. This trend is reinforced by Verizon’s 2025 Data Breach Investigations Report, which found ransomware present in 44% of breaches, a 37% increase over the previous year. The impact is severe across organizations of all sizes: ransomware appeared in 39% of breaches at large enterprises and an alarming 88% of breaches affecting small and midsize businesses.
Trend 2: Rising complexity in network and security management
Modern enterprise networks are more complex than ever, making it increasingly challenging for IT teams to maintain performance, resilience, and security. As organizations accelerate digital transformation, adopt cloud services, and expand interconnected supply chains, data movement and endpoint connectivity continue to grow—adding new layers of operational and security complexity. This expanding environment makes it harder to support business growth, while staying ahead of evolving threats and managing disparate network infrastructures across multiple locations.
Trend 3: The cybersecurity talent gap
The demand for skilled cybersecurity professionals continues to outpace supply. As of June 2025, CyberSeek reported more than 510,000 open cybersecurity roles in the U.S. alone. At the same time, the rapid rise of AI-driven threats and technology innovation are driving the need for specialized expertise. As mentioned in the Global Cybersecurity Outlook 2025, only 14% of organizations are confident they have the talent and skills required to meet their cybersecurity objectives. This widening gap is placing significant strain on already overextended security teams.
Trend 4: CISOs guiding digital transformation
Cybersecurity has become a cornerstone of digital transformation and technology-led business strategies. The CISO role has evolved from a purely technical function into a strategic leadership position with executive visibility, responsible for aligning security initiatives with broader business objectives. According to Deloitte’s Global Future of Cyber Survey, cybersecurity is no longer just an IT issue; it is a business-critical imperative. The research shows that CISOs are increasingly engaged in shaping enterprise strategy, influencing decisions across technology, operations, and overall business transformation.
Trend 5: AI is redefining cybersecurity
Artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping cybersecurity on every front. It enables faster, more intelligent protection, while simultaneously giving cybercriminals the ability to launch more sophisticated, scalable, and cost-efficient attacks. Generative AI is increasingly used for social engineering, credential theft, and automated attack scripting, while autonomous agents can now execute multiple attack functions without human involvement. To stay ahead, CIOs and CISOs must move quickly to embed AI into their cyber capabilities and strategies—automating defense, accelerating response, and shifting from reactive to predictive, prevention-first protection.
Trend 6: The hybrid workforce is the enterprise of now
Cloud applications, mobility, and advanced collaboration technologies have enabled a highly productive distributed and hybrid workforce for enterprises. However, this advantage expands the attack surface and introduces new security risks. Traditional VPNs often increase these risks, causing high latency, reduced performance, and inadequate security. Modern cybersecurity technologies such as SASE and SD-WAN mitigate these issues, optimizing traffic flow and performance while ensuring secure, seamless Zero-Trust access for users across remote, hybrid, and in-office environments.
CISOs Are Feeling the Pressure
These trends are putting increased pressure on CIOs and CISOs as they balance rising business demands with the need to improve operational efficiency and control costs. At the same time, hiring and retaining skilled cybersecurity talent remains a major challenge. The Global Cybersecurity Outlook 2025 study showed 67% of organizations report a moderate-to-critical cybersecurity skills gap.
Security teams are also overwhelmed by incident alert fatigue, reactive troubleshooting, frequent patching, and the constant need to keep pace with evolving tools and threats. Long hours and high expectations are driving burnout across IT and security organizations.
Furthermore, technology stacks continue to grow more complex. CISOs are managing an expanding mix of security tools, vendors, and SLAs, creating operational inefficiencies that drain productivity and increase risk for the business.
Why Managed SASE is Gaining Popularity
As IT security teams face growing workloads and cybersecurity talent shortages, CISOs are turning to Managed Services Providers (MSPs) or Managed Services Security Providers (MSSPs) for help. The Cybersecurity Insiders 2025 State of Secure Network Access Report shows that 47% of respondents identified lack of in-house expertise as a key reason for turning to MSSPs.
A trusted MSSP can partner with internal teams to ease operational load and simplify deployment and management of network and security systems. MSSPs bring deep expertise in network architectures and advanced cybersecurity techniques, along with a fully staffed Security Operations Center (SOC) to handle day-to-day incident response, performance monitoring, and routine updates and patches.
By leveraging MSSPs, enterprises can achieve faster time-to-value, and reduce costs by consolidating technologies, reducing vendors and SLAs, and minimizing training expenses and the capital investment required to stand up an in-house SOC.
Managed SASE Strengthens Security and Lowers Risk
A Managed SASE solution provides the best of both worlds—expert centralized management and essential technologies in a cohesive security framework that combines SD-WAN with Security Service Edge (SSE) to protect users and endpoints at the network edge. SSE brings together four cloud-based security services: Cloud Access Security Broker, Secure Web Gateway, Zero Trust Network Access, and Firewall-as-a-Service.
Managed SASE provides strong, secure, Zero-Trust access for your workforce from wherever they are, backed by AI-driven proactive threat defense, and centralized policies across your entire network. It also provides a cost-effective way to connect your organization to all its locations, streamlines management for your IT and security teams, and helps keep your cloud applications and infrastructure safe from cyber attacks and data leaks.
Discover Hughes Managed SASE
Hughes has decades of experience in managed services, and deep expertise in cybersecurity consulting and network engineering, design, and deployment. Through strategic partnerships with industry-recognized SASE innovators Netskope and Fortinet, Hughes delivers best-in-class SASE, SSE, and SD-WAN solutions—enhanced by our world-class managed services and operational excellence.
To learn more about Hughes Managed SASE, visit our website.