London, United Kingdom, April 14th, 2026, CyberNewswire
Acora reports a rise in demand for cyber incident baseline assessments. The increase follows continued growth in cyber incidents and tightening regulatory requirements. These factors are putting pressure on senior decision-makers to demonstrate operational cyber resilience.
Industry data continues to highlight the scale of the challenge facing organisations. Industry reporting indicates that cyber attacks are becoming increasingly frequent and complex, with attackers exploiting interconnected systems, supply chains, and cloud environments.Â
This makes it more difficult for businesses to rely on static security assessments, as risk exposure can change rapidly across different parts of an organisation.
Cyber Incident Baseline Assessments indicate how threats move through a business’s environment. UK organisations are responding to escalating cyber threats and increasing regulatory pressure to improve cyber incident response, such as the introduction of DORA and NIS2, by transitioning from traditional point-in-time testing to continuous, threat-led risk analysis.
James Fernley, Acora’s Director of Cyber Security said, “The conversations we’re having now are more focused, urgent, and forward-thinking. Businesses understand that a point-in-time snapshot can’t show how an attacker operates once they are in an environment. They’re looking for deeper insight, real attack paths, and hidden connections.”
Data from Acora shows that 25 organisations were involved in assessments over the past 12 months to better understand their cyber risk exposure.
Notably, Acora experienced an over 100% increase in demand for Cyber Incident Baseline and Readiness Assessments, linked to the increasing demand for tighter cyber security controls and newly emerging risks like artificial intelligence (AI) attacks, AI fraud, and sophisticated “double extortion” ransomware.
In one recent Acora assessment that focused on business cyber risk, they identified over 15 million breach paths and the potential to reduce risk exposure by 95%. Breach paths refer to routes attackers may take through systems to exploit business vulnerabilities.
The increases highlight a wider change in board-level expectations. Business leaders now want data-driven answers about how their organisations can withstand a real-world breach scenario, with a growing focus on in-depth insights rather than point-in-time snapshots.
Now, organisations are reassessing the effectiveness of annual penetration testing, shifting focus to continual threat‑led, data‑driven assessments that reflect real‑world attacker behaviour.
Annual penetration testing is still a recognised security control, but business leaders are increasingly concerned that point-in-time assessments provide a static snapshot of risk, not a view of how attackers might move through systems once inside.
Assessments are now focusing on modelling real-world attack paths across an organisation’s systems, including infrastructure, cloud environments, and user activity. This analysis helps identify and prioritise vulnerabilities based on how risks connect across systems.
According to Acora, these assessments provide a broader view of cyber resilience beyond isolated technical controls, helping to identify where vulnerabilities exist and how they may combine in practice.
Demand has continued into early 2026, with demand for continuous, data-driven assessments increasing, particularly within organisations operating in regulated sectors where boards must demonstrate clear oversight of cyber risk.
For further information, users can visit https://www.acora.com.
About Acora
Acora is a UK-based Full-Stack Business Technology Services Partner, specialising in Cyber Security, Cloud and Infrastructure, and Data and IT Solutions to mid-market and enterprise organisations.
With a strong focus on improving an organisation’s security posture, Acora’s Cyber Incident Baseline Assessment is designed to provide organisations with a data-driven understanding of how cyber threats could move through their environment, enabling them to prioritise remediation efforts and strengthen overall resilience.
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