Halcyon Warns of Growing ‘Ransomware Gap’ as AI Tilts Advantage to Attackers

New updates have been reported about Halcyon.

Halcyon has released a new report, “The Ransomware Gap in the AI Era,” highlighting a widening disconnect between enterprise confidence in ransomware defenses and actual resilience, with direct implications for security spending and risk oversight. Based on a survey of 100 U.S. CISOs and senior security leaders conducted in early 2026, the company finds that while 99% of respondents believe they can detect ransomware attacks, nearly half of those that suffered an incident say they discovered the attack too late to avoid significant damage.

The report positions Halcyon at the center of a critical shift in how boards and executives evaluate ransomware risk, as 97% of security leaders now face board-level questions about defense strategies and 64% rank ransomware among their top three business priorities. Halcyon’s CEO and co-founder Jon Miller cautions that perceived readiness is not translating into real-world effectiveness, particularly as attackers weaponize AI to design more evasive, high-impact campaigns, leaving traditional tools struggling to keep pace and creating a material exposure for enterprises.

A key theme for Halcyon’s market narrative is the “trust paradox” around Endpoint Detection and Response tools: 98% of organizations rely on EDR as a primary control, but only 25% of leaders trust those tools to stop today’s ransomware. Nearly 9 in 10 respondents report some operational disruption from ransomware, with roughly half citing moderate to significant impact, underscoring the potential for revenue loss, downtime, and reputational damage that Halcyon aims to mitigate with its purpose-built platform.

The research also underscores an AI asymmetry that strengthens Halcyon’s strategic positioning, as 78% of respondents say AI has made ransomware more effective, while only 6% believe AI has meaningfully improved their own defenses. This 13-to-1 imbalance suggests sustained demand for specialized anti-ransomware solutions and offers Halcyon a data-backed case to drive adoption among large enterprises that now see ransomware as a top-tier business risk rather than a pure IT issue.

Board scrutiny is directly influencing purchasing behavior in a way that favors Halcyon’s value proposition, with 74% of leaders saying board questions are materially shaping anti-ransomware investments and 91% reporting that recent high-profile incidents are impacting buying decisions. Field CISO Gary Hayslip notes that boards are asking more pointed, technical questions about ransomware resilience, pushing security teams to select tools that can demonstrate concrete capabilities across detection, response, and recovery rather than relying on theoretical prevention claims.

For Halcyon, the findings support a strategy centered on ransomware-specific tooling, 24/7 expert support, and guarantees that target the financial core of the problem by aiming to eliminate ransom payments and maintain business continuity. While the company does not disclose financials in this release, the survey results suggest a favorable demand environment and a shift in budget priorities that could accelerate customer acquisition, deepen board-level engagement, and reinforce Halcyon’s position as a specialist provider in a market where generic EDR solutions are increasingly viewed as insufficient.