As you consider your security priorities for 2025, you should comprehensively review what you have as well as what you need – from a regulatory, people, tooling and capability perspective.
Optimising cyber security strategy is not about acquiring more tools or FTE, it’s about making smarter, strategic investments that reduce complexity and enhance overall security. Before finalising how to spend your 2025 budgets, consider these key questions to ensure your security programme remains resilient, scalable, and adaptable to future threats.
1. Trim the fat
As cyber security continues to feature in Board-level discussions, there’s a strong temptation to invest in more tools to demonstrate an improved security posture. However, adding tools without a clear integration strategy can lead to data silos, increased operational complexity, and security fatigue. The key is balance – only deploy what truly reduces your risk.
Key questions:
- Are our security tools deployed effectively across our entire estate
- Do they align with both current and future business requirements
- Are we overspending due to overlapping or underutilised capabilities?
2. Maximise what you have
Rapid vendor development and acquisitions are creating overlapping security features, leaving tools underused or redundant. In some cases, new security capabilities are available for existing tools by the time organisations have completed onboarding of a new product. Security teams often face increased maintenance, multiple dashboards, and integration challenges, all of which challenge their ability to detect and respond to threats and reduce risk.
Key questions:
- Are we fully leveraging the capabilities of our existing tools?
- Is our environment compatible with our current toolset, or are there integration gaps?ª
- Is each tool correctly configured and operating at its best?
3. Evaluate and evolve
Regularly reviewing your security programme’s maturity and key risks can make sure you are aligned with evolving threats and the latest industry standards. A comprehensive capability review helps identify gaps, reduce redundancies, and guide investment decisions. Comparing your approach with that of your industry peers will also offer valuable insights into your strategic direction.
Key questions:
- Is our security strategy informed by our true, current state?
- Do we have overlapping tools that could be consolidated?
- Where are the critical gaps that require immediate attention or investment?
4. Empower your team
Security functions are only as effective as the people within them. Conducting team activity analysis can pinpoint workload pressures and skill gaps. Training programmes should be tailored to make sure staff not only understand tool interfaces but also know how to use them effectively and innovatively.
Key questions:
- Are we giving our teams sufficient time to learn and fully utilise security tools
- How does scaling our security operations impact our overall risk exposure
- Are we developing team members to reduce reliance on individual experts?
5. Build resilience for the future
Your security strategy should evolve with the business, emerging technology and threat landscape. Organisations should be considering cloud adoption, artificial intelligence integration, and shifting
compliance requirements such as DORA, FCA, and EBA mandates. A forward-looking approach can reduce future resource demands, prevent reactive workloads and mitigate unexpected costs.
Key questions:
- Do our IT and cyber security strategies complement each other?C
- Are we tracking emerging threats and adapting our defences accordingly?C
- Are compliance obligations and industry best practices incorporated into our planning?
To discuss the information in this article, or to work through these questions with our experts, please do not hesitate to contact:
Kate O’Loghlen, Head of Cyber