Cybercrime is no longer just a digital nuisance. It has become a global economy. At an estimated $9 trillion annually, cybercrime now ranks as the third largest “economy” in the world, growing faster than most nations. Against this backdrop, businesses face a pressing question: how do we keep pace with evolving threats while staying compliant and collaborative?
In a recent webinar, "Your Data Is Growing Fast. But Is Your Security Keeping Up?" Luke Elston, Microsoft Practice Lead, unpacked the challenges of modern data security and showed how Microsoft Purview helps organisations take control of their data landscape.
The numbers are staggering. While the average cost of a breach decreased slightly from $4.88 million in 2024 to $4.40 million in 2025, the risks remain high. On average, breaches still take over 200 days to detect and contain.
Artificial intelligence has intensified the threat landscape:
The message is clear: data security must evolve as quickly as the threats do.
In our webinar survey, 43% of organisations named data breaches and external threats as their top concern for 2025. Another 29% are focused on preparing for AI and Microsoft Copilot securely, while 21% struggle most with visibility into where their data resides. Insider risk rounded out the list at 7%. These results underscore that while breaches remain at the forefront of mind, AI adoption and data governance gaps are rapidly climbing the priority list.
Luke outlined six universal challenges organisations face today:
Regulatory pressure is mounting across industries. Multiple overlapping frameworks (from GDPR to HIPAA to new regional rules) are stretching already-limited resources. In our recent survey, 50% of respondents identified GDPR as their most challenging framework to manage, while 20% struggle most with industry-specific regulations, such as FCA, NHS, or PCI DSS.
The remaining organisations highlighted NIS2, DORA, and ISO 27001 as key compliance burdens. These findings confirm that compliance complexity is not theoretical. It is one of the most pressing barriers to building resilient security programmes.
3. AI-powered threats – Phishing, deepfakes, and advanced social engineering.
4. Shadow IT & AI – Unmonitored apps and AI tools bypassing governance.
5. Supply Chain Risk – Vulnerabilities in third-party partners exposing sensitive data.
6. Data Visibility Gaps – Many firms still don’t know what sensitive data they hold.
In our survey, half of the organisations stated that they are not confident in knowing where all their sensitive data resides. At the same time, 40% admitted to having only partial confidence, with noticeable gaps. 10% reported having no visibility at all. Without visibility, even the strongest controls and policies are undermined.
Each of these 6 challenges requires not only policies but also automated and scalable solutions to stay ahead.
However, despite growing concerns over AI-powered threats, our survey reveals that only 33% of organisations are actively using Microsoft Purview, while 8% utilise another governance tool. Half of the respondents (50%) are still only considering adoption, and 8% said it is not on their agenda at all. This leaves a wide gap between threat awareness and actual preparedness.
Microsoft Purview is more than a single product. It’s a suite of governance, protection, and compliance solutions designed for both structured and unstructured data.
Key capabilities include:
With Microsoft Purview, organisations can apply compliance by design, ensuring security and governance are built into everyday processes, not bolted on as afterthoughts.
"With Purview, if you set your policies up so that a classification label is always applied by default, the end user has very little to do. In most cases, they won’t have to do anything. Purview just solves the problem for them.”
-Luke Elston, Microsoft Practice Lead, CyberOne
It is also worth noting that the adoption of Microsoft Copilot is accelerating across various industries. In our recent survey, 77% of organisations are either already using Copilot or piloting it, and another 15% plan to adopt it within the next year. Only a small minority (8%) said it is not currently planned.
This rapid adoption highlights why building governance guardrails with Microsoft Purview is essential to ensuring AI is deployed securely and responsibly.
Organisations using Microsoft Purview are seeing measurable value in diverse scenarios:
These use cases show that Microsoft Purview is not just a theory. It’s a practical enabler of secure business operations.
With cybercrime accelerating and regulations tightening, waiting is no longer an option. Microsoft has also introduced new, cost-effective licensing for smaller organisations (under 300 users), making advanced Purview capabilities more accessible than ever.
As Luke emphasised, the biggest challenge isn’t technology, it’s adoption. Training employees and embedding security into culture are just as critical as deploying the tools.
“The technology is ready. The real challenge is adoption. Success with Purview isn’t just about deploying the tools, it’s about training people and embedding security into the culture of the organisation.”
— Luke Elston, Microsoft Practice Lead, CyberOne
Cyber threats are growing smarter, faster and more targeted. But with Microsoft Purview, organisations can:
Cyber threats and compliance challenges are not slowing down, and neither can your security strategy. With Microsoft Purview, you can protect data, simplify compliance and prepare for secure AI adoption. However, the real value lies in knowing where to start.
That’s where AssureMAP comes in. It’s our structured assessment that benchmarks your security posture, pinpoints compliance gaps and creates a clear, prioritised roadmap to resilience. Whether your focus is GDPR, NIS2, or Copilot readiness, AssureMAP gives you the clarity and confidence to move forward.
Book a 1:1 consultation with us today and we’ll walk you through your current risks, align your controls with the right regulations, and build a practical plan for AI-ready data protection.
You can watch "Your Data Is Growing Fast. But Is Your Security Keeping Up?" On-Demand to hear the full discussion and dive deeper into Microsoft Purview’s real-world applications.