The 12th Annual Global Internal Audit Perspectives on Top Technology Risks Survey reveals a nuanced view of the tech risk landscape facing organizations, highlighting cybersecurity as the top concern, amplified by fears over data breaches and ransomware. Emerging trends emphasize the growing influence of AI on technology auditing and its associated risks. The findings underscore the need for auditors to adopt new strategies and increase audit frequency to stay ahead in an evolving environment where high-frequency IT auditing groups report a distinct perception of threats compared to their peers.

The results not only reinforce some trends from prior years, but also reveal emerging risk trends that technology auditors must anticipate to remain relevant. There is greater interest in new approaches to address the changing risk landscape, and there is an elevated level of maturity in some organizations, which signals what is to come for the technology audit profession.  

Major findings include:

• Cybersecurity is the top technology threat — Not only do cyber concerns stand out as the top threat, but these concerns are even greater among organizations conducting technology audits more frequently, as well as among those using cybersecurity and AI-based tools to support the technology audit department.  
• AI is beginning to influence technology auditing — While AI is not viewed as a significant short-term technology concern, most respondents (59%) view advanced AI systems as posing significant risks to their organizations in the next two to three years. Further, the use of AI-based tools in technology auditing is associated with elevated concerns about various threats.
• Data concerns are prevalent — Data privacy and compliance as well as data governance and integrity rank among the top technology risks organizations face, and 52% view data breaches and leaks of sensitive information as posing the greatest cybersecurity-related threats.  
• Higher frequency of technology audits drives better performance — Conducting more technology audits annually (for purposes of analyzing this survey’s results, defined as six or more — see Page 8) drives a clearer understanding of the threat landscape and contributes to improved organizational preparedness and technology audit proficiency to handle these threats.