Lenovo Finds 65% of IT Leaders Admit Their Defenses Can’t Withstand AI Cybercrime

(BUSINESS WIRE) -- Lenovo research reveals a widening security gap as AI-driven cybercrime surges: 65% of IT leaders surveyed admit their defenses are outdated and unable to withstand AI-enabled attacks, and just 31% feel confident defending against them.

The new insights are drawn from Lenovo’s third Work Reborn report, Reinforcing the Modern Workplace. While AI is driving business improvements and efficiency gains, it is also fueling a new wave of cybercrime that most businesses are ill-equipped to defend against. This underscores the critical need for enterprises to adopt AI-driven strategies that can counter threats that learn, adapt, and evolve in real time. Lenovo is positioned to deliver this shift with end-to-end solutions that embed AI security into the digital workplace. With operations in 180 markets and a leader in enterprise technology, Lenovo brings unmatched scale to solving AI workplace challenges, from protecting sensitive data to countering evolving cyber threats.

“AI has changed the balance of power in cybersecurity. To keep up, organizations need intelligence that adapts as fast as the threats. That means fighting AI with AI,” said Rakshit Ghura, Vice President & General Manager, Lenovo Digital Workplace Solutions. “With intelligent, adaptive defenses, IT leaders can protect their people, assets, and data while unlocking AI’s full potential to drive business forward.”

The New Class of AI Threats

The advance of generative AI has supercharged cybercriminal strategies, enabling hyper-agile attacks. Modern AI-driven threats can mimic legitimate behavior, mutate to avoid detection, and span multiple domains – from cloud to endpoints, applications, and data repositories.

The report highlights the top concerns among IT leaders:

AI-powered external threats – from polymorphic malware and AI-driven phishing to deepfake impersonation, AI attacks are faster, more convincing, and harder to detect.
Insider risks – 70% of IT leaders surveyed see employee misuse of AI as a major risk, and more than 60% say AI agents create a new class of insider threat they are unprepared to manage.
Protection of AI itself – models, training data, and prompts are now high-value targets that must be defended against manipulation and compromise.

Taken together, these risks show why conventional defenses are no longer enough. And this is where Lenovo is leading with AI-native defenses designed to spot threats earlier, adapt in real time, and scale across the modern workplace. Industry analysts echo this urgency. Gartner® notes that “by 2027, 90% of successful AI implementation in cybersecurity will be tactical — focused on task automation and process augmentations — rather than role replacing.¹” McKinsey warns that enterprises leaning on traditional defenses will fall short as AI reshapes both cyber threats and defenses².

Lenovo is also extending AI-driven protection to the device level. With the rise of AI PCs, Lenovo is embedding intelligence into endpoints so they function as more protected, self-defending assets. This device-level intelligence connects seamlessly with Lenovo’s broader cyber resiliency platform, delivering unified protection from edge to cloud.

From Reactive to Resilient

To shift the balance, IT leaders need a two-pronged approach that enhances detection and embeds AI directly into their defenses. Yet adoption is slowed by legacy systems, talent gaps, and budget pressures. That’s why Lenovo is extending AI-powered protection beyond the security operations center to the entire digital workplace. With Lenovo Digital Workplace Solutions, delivered by the Gen-AI-driven platform Care of One™, enterprises are strengthening cyber resilience through Lenovo Security Services with ThinkShield, enhancing protection for endpoints, data, applications, and employees at enterprise scale.

Lenovo’s commitment to practical, trusted security has been recognized across the industry. At the 2025 Fortress Cybersecurity Awards, Lenovo earned honors in three categories:

Cybersecurity Leaders – Nima Baiati, Executive Director and General Manager, Commercial Software and Security Solutions, Lenovo (Zero Trust Architecture)
Supply Chain -- Lenovo ThinkShield Supply Chain Assurance, recognized for protecting the integrity of devices at scale. Global enterprises like Meta use ThinkShield Supply Chain Assurance to validate employee devices, with Meta noting it “significantly boosts our trust in the authenticity and integrity of our hardware.”³
Leading Cybersecurity Products and Services – Lenovo Cyber Resiliency as a Service (CRaaS) in the Cloud Security category

Lenovo Cyber Resiliency as a Service offers managed services to help organizations monitor, detect, and respond to cyber incidents, reducing downtime and strengthening resilience. Early deployments have delivered 99.5% threat detection, response times under 30 minutes, and more than 20% cost savings in year one. Delivered via subscription, CRaaS expands access to expert support and enterprise-grade security tools while helping customers manage costs. These outcomes reinforce Lenovo’s role as a trusted partner in building protected, AI-ready digital workplaces.

Lenovo ThinkSystem x86 servers have also been independently validated for reliability, ranking #1 in uptime among all x86 platforms for 11 years running, according to Information Technology Intelligence Consulting’s (ITIC) 2024 Global Server Hardware, Server OS Reliability Report.⁴

AI Security as a Growth Engine

Securing AI-enabled workplaces is not only a defense but also a growth engine and competitive differentiator. Lenovo’s report finds that when organizations trust their AI security foundations, they unlock productivity, lower costs, and accelerate adoption of AI-powered digital workplace solutions.

Ghura concluded, “With AI tools proliferating beyond IT’s visibility and attackers exploiting gaps traditional systems can’t recognize, Lenovo is delivering the AI-powered defenses enterprises need to close the gap, turning risk into resilience and enabling workplaces that are protected, productive, and future-ready.”

As AI becomes the fabric of business, Lenovo is committed to building workplaces that are not only more protected, but also intelligent, adaptive, and ready for what comes next. See where enterprise defenses fall short against AI-driven threats and how Lenovo helps close the gap. Download the full Reinforcing the Modern Workplace report for practical steps enterprises can take to outpace AI threats.

About Lenovo

Lenovo is a US$69 billion revenue global technology powerhouse, ranked #196 in the Fortune Global 500, and serving millions of customers every day in 180 markets. Focused on a bold vision to deliver Smarter Technology for All, Lenovo has built on its success as the world’s largest PC company with a full-stack portfolio of AI-enabled, AI-ready, and AI-optimized devices (PCs, workstations, smartphones, tablets), infrastructure (server, storage, edge, high performance computing and software defined infrastructure), software, solutions, and services. Lenovo’s continued investment in world-changing innovation is building a more equitable, trustworthy, and smarter future for everyone, everywhere. Lenovo is listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange under Lenovo Group Limited (HKSE: 992) (ADR: LNVGY). To find out more visit https://www.lenovo.com, and read about the latest news via our StoryHub.

Notes for editors

Reinforcing the Modern Workplace is the third report in the Lenovo Work Reborn Research Series 2025, which is being published throughout the course of the year. The report is based on a survey of 600 IT leaders that took place in October and November 2024. The survey sample included respondents from the USA Canada, UK, France, Germany, India, Japan, Singapore, Brazil, Mexico Australia, and New Zealand. Respondents included IT leaders from companies with at least 1,000 employees and from a range of sectors.

CITATIONS

¹Source: Gartner, Security & Risk Management Summit 2025, National Harbor: Day 1 Highlights
GARTNER is a registered trademark of Gartner, Inc., and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
²Source: McKinsey & Company, “The cybersecurity provider’s next opportunity: Making AI safer,” 2024
https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/risk-and-resilience/our-insights/the-cybersecurity-providers-next-opportunity-making-ai-safer
³Source: Meta Case Study – Zero Trust: Validating the integrity of employee devices with Lenovo ThinkShield Supply Chain Assurance, 2025.
⁴ Source: Information Technology Intelligence Consulting’s (ITIC) 2024 Global Server Hardware, Server OS Reliability Report

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Lenovo Finds 65% of IT Leaders Admit Their Defenses Can’t Withstand AI Cybercrime