In this article
The software change risk landscape
In 2026, Cytix interviewed 250 cyber security leaders on the pace of software development in their organisations and how confident they are on the level of risk being introduced as a result.
The aim of the research was to understand how much control the industry has over software change risk, in a time where development velocity has reached unprecedented levels due to the rise of AI assisted development.
Amongst the findings, we uncovered:
78%* of security leaders surveyed say their organisation has mandated AI-assisted development
Nearly half (48%) have signed off on a release they were not fully confident was secure
53%* of security leaders say security findings in their organisation are frequently out of date by the time they reach the people who need to act on them
Only 36% of security leaders strongly agree they have visibility into which specific software changes in their organisation introduced risk after a security incident
*Strongly agree’ and ‘somewhat agree’ responses combined
The Software Change Confidence Benchmark
We've taken the results of the survey, and created a tool that lets you privately answer the same questions. So you can compare your position on software change risk to the research benchmark.
So if you're one of the 62% of security leaders who say security risk in their organisation is moving from a latent problem to an immediate one, use the tool to establish your current position on software change risk in your organisation.
About the research behind the tool
Research conducted on behalf of Cytix by Opinion Matters between 28.07.2026 and 03.08.2026. Sample: 250 UK IT security leaders (aged 25+), including CISOs, Heads and Directors of IT Security, VPs of IT and Information Security, Directors of Application Security and Product Security, Heads of AppSec, AppSec Leads and Heads of IT Security Engineering. All work in organisations employing 1,000 or more people with an in-house software development team. Opinion Matters abides by and employs members of the Market Research Society and follows the MRS code of conduct and ESOMAR principles. Opinion Matters is also a member of the British Polling Council.
