The World Economic Forum (WEF) recently published an article on cyber resilience that resonates with conversations we have daily at Arctic Wolf. Their central argument — that organizations need to move beyond basic prevention toward comprehensive, measurable resilience — reflects what we’re hearing from business leaders across industries. The numbers they share are sobering: 72% of organizations report rising cyber risks, and a third of small and –medium-sized businesses (SMBs) say their cyber defenses fall short. These statistics may alarm some, but for those of us working in cybersecurity every day, they simply confirm what we’re already seeing.
This reality is underscored by recent data from our own State of Cybersecurity: 2025 Trends Report, which found that 70% of organizations experienced at least one significant cyber attack in the past 12 months, with malware, business email compromise (BEC), and ransomware leading the charge. For any organization, a cyber incident is a matter of “when,” not “if.”
This isn’t just an IT problem; it’s a fundamental business challenge that requires a new way of thinking. The WEF’s analysis provides a clear framework for this new approach, and we at Arctic Wolf couldn’t agree more.
From Prevention to Resilience: A Necessary Evolution
For years, the cybersecurity industry was built on the promise of prevention. The idea was to build a fortress so strong that no attacker could ever get in. But as the WEF rightly points out, that’s no longer a realistic goal. The modern threat landscape is too vast, the attack vectors too numerous, and the adversaries too sophisticated.
In the modern threat landscape, an organization needs the ability to prevent, prepare for, respond to, and recover from cyber events to ensure business continuity. This is the essence of cyber resilience. It starts with strong prevention, reducing the likelihood of an incident through proactive threat detection, endpoint protection, and security awareness. But it also means being ready to respond quickly and effectively if an event occurs, minimizing disruption and maintaining confidence in your operations. Cyber resilience is about building a business that can withstand and adapt to any challenge, protecting its mission, customers, and long-term success.
This philosophy is at the heart of everything we do at Arctic Wolf. Our approach centers on equipping organizations with advanced prevention, detection, and response capabilities, enabling them to increase their ability to block attacks preemptively, identify emerging threats in real time, contain incidents swiftly, and restore operations seamlessly.
If You Can’t Measure It, You Can’t Improve It
The WEF’s most important point is the one Arctic Wolf has built our business around: To be effective, cyber resilience must be measurable. Without meaningful data, organizations’ boards and executives are left guessing at their true risk levels. Weaknesses remain hidden, investments are made based on instinct, and organizations remain reactive instead of resilient.
Frameworks like NIST CSF 2.0 and CIS Controls provide useful structure, but resilience demands more than checklists — it requires continuous, data-driven visibility across technical, human, and organizational dimensions.
The cost of unmeasured resilience is simply too high. Our State of Cybersecurity: 2025 Trends Report found that 64% of significant cyber attacks led to productivity losses lasting at least three months. By embedding measurement into every stage of the security lifecycle, from assessment to response to recovery, organizations can move from reactive crisis management to proactive risk reduction.
That’s where the Arctic Wolf® Aurora™ Platform transforms cybersecurity. By continuously monitoring activity from endpoint to cloud, it provides real-time insight into an organization’s security posture, helping IT and security teams identify weaknesses, prioritize investments, and track measurable progress over time.
Putting Principles into Practice: How Arctic Wolf Helps Build Resilience
Measurement is only the beginning. Comprehensive resilience comes from turning insight into action. Arctic Wolf helps organizations move from assessment to execution through a continuous, guided Security Journey® designed to build measurable resilience at every stage.
- Assess and Benchmark: The Arctic Wolf Cyber Resilience Assessment maps security postures against frameworks like NIST CSF and CIS Controls, providing transparent scoring and visual reports that help leaders identify gaps, communicate risk to boards and insurers, and track improvement over time.
- Strengthen and Evolve: Through the Concierge Security® Team (CST) and Security Posture in-Depth Reviews (SPiDRs), Arctic Wolf customers work with named experts to harden defenses, address evolving threats, and support continuous improvement — turning measurement into momentum.
- Respond and Recover: When every second counts, the Arctic Wolf Incident360 Retainer delivers readiness and response without compromise. Unlike legacy retainers that ration service hours, Incident360 offers full coverage for one major incident, combining expert-led readiness, rapid response times, and purpose-built runbooks for high-risk cyber events like ransomware and BEC. By uniting preparation and response into one offering, organizations gain cost certainty, faster recovery, and confidence to act decisively when it matters most.
- Build Financial Resilience: The Arctic Wolf Security Operations Warranty provides up to $3 million (USD) in support for qualifying events like ransomware or BEC, helping organizations financially withstand and recover from incidents. It’s a tangible expression of confidence and proof that Arctic Wolf stands by its resilience measurements.
Together, these steps help organizations transform their internal security from a reactive function into a proactive, measurable discipline — one that delivers operational, organizational, and financial resilience.
The Path Forward
The World Economic Forum’s call to action is clear: “Core business functions must become cyber resilient — it should not just be seen as an IT concern.”
Cyber resilience isn’t about perfection; it’s about proof. When we measure security, we can manage it. When we manage it, we can improve it. And when we improve it, we can make security work today, tomorrow, and for the long run.
Arctic Wolf is proud to be part of this movement, helping organizations of all sizes build measurable, lasting resilience. Let’s end cyber risk together.
DISCLAIMER: The contents of this blog post are for educational purposes only and Arctic Wolf is not endorsing any insurance provider, product or service. Arctic Wolf and its employees are not licensed producers and therefore are not engaging in the sale, solicitation or negotiation of insurance and are NOT offering advice regarding insurance terms, conditions, premium rates or claims. Customers interested in purchasing cyber insurance coverage should consult with an appropriately licensed insurance broker.
