Austin, Texas, USA, October 27, 2025
New research highlights key initiatives for modernizing network defenses, focusing on automation, real-time threat detection, and segmentation.
Findings from the Futurum Research 1H25 Cybersecurity Decision Maker IQ study reveal the key initiatives organizations prioritize as they modernize their network security architecture. The research indicates that enterprises are overwhelmingly focused on automating security processes and enhancing real-time threat detection capabilities to address the increasingly complex and mission-critical needs placed on an organization’s network.
The study highlights that network security automation is the top initiative, with 55% of respondents identifying it as a key investment area. This is closely followed by Network Detection & Response (NDR), cited by 51% of organizations. Network segmentation and microsegmentation also ranked as a high initiative at 46%, with Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) following at 41%.
This trend was even more pronounced among larger organizations, where the preference for automation initiatives rose to 60%. This reflects the tremendous pressure these organizations are under to deliver on complex network security objectives with limited staff.
These top-tier initiatives suggest a strategic shift toward building more intelligent, responsive, and resilient networks. In contrast, other areas like SASE/SSE implementations (25%) and SD-WAN security (8%) ranked lower, indicating that organizations likely prioritize foundational visibility and automation before broader architectural transformations.
Figure 1: Key Network Security Initiatives
The findings collectively point to a deliberate strategy among security decision-makers. The immediate initiative is to automate defenses and improve visibility with NDR. This combines a robust “defense-in-depth” approach using segmentation and ZTNA to secure internal assets, reflecting a comprehensive vision to minimize attack surfaces, reducing the blast radius of security incidents, and possibly simplifying security policies.
“The data clearly shows a pivot from a mindset of static prevention to a more dynamic, intelligent defense approach. With over half of organizations prioritizing automation, jumping to 60% for large enterprises, it’s clear leaders understand they can’t manually keep pace with demand,” stated Fernando Montenegro, Vice President at Futurum Research. “This isn’t just about speed; it directly responds to staffing pressures. They must build networks that can see, think, and respond in real-time. Crucially, the strong emphasis on automation and NDR provides the perfect foundation for more thoughtful applications of AI to network security. These are areas where AI-enabled components can deliver the most impact, helping to analyze vast data streams and automate responses at scale, leaving humans to focus on more strategic areas.”
“The secondary focus on segmentation and ZTNA, which are arguably different ways of naming the same high-level objective, shows a commitment to Zero Trust principles, moving beyond the perimeter to secure internal traffic,” commented Fernando Montenegro.
Read more in the 1H 2025 Cybersecurity Decision Maker Survey Report on the Futurum Intelligence Platform.
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Author Information
Fernando Montenegro serves as the Vice President & Practice Lead for Cybersecurity & Resilience at The Futurum Group. In this role, he leads the development and execution of the Cybersecurity research agenda, working closely with the team to drive the practice's growth. His research focuses on addressing critical topics in modern cybersecurity. These include the multifaceted role of AI in cybersecurity, strategies for managing an ever-expanding attack surface, and the evolution of cybersecurity architectures toward more platform-oriented solutions.
Before joining The Futurum Group, Fernando held senior industry analyst roles at Omdia, S&P Global, and 451 Research. His career also includes diverse roles in customer support, security, IT operations, professional services, and sales engineering. He has worked with pioneering Internet Service Providers, established security vendors, and startups across North and South America.
Fernando holds a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil and various industry certifications. Although he is originally from Brazil, he has been based in Toronto, Canada, for many years.
