How we can help

Cybersecurity

AI-powered attacks are here. Quantum threats are approaching. Most organizations are dangerously exposed. Bain helps leaders fully understand the threats, develop the appropriate response, and rapidly reduce their risks.

Cybercrime cost the US an estimated $21 billion in 2025, and the threat is accelerating. Yet years of underinvestment have left many organizations exposed. As the gap between risk and readiness widens, we help companies treat cybersecurity as a strategic business imperative, not just a technology issue.

AI-powered cyberattacks are already scaling rapidly, with 87% of organizations affected over the past year. New frontier AI models have significantly accelerated the potential for sophisticated, automated attacks. In tandem, quantum computing is on the brink of undermining many of today’s encryption methods, with adversaries already using “harvest now, decrypt later” tactics against high-value data. Companies must be quantum-ready by 2030, yet most have not begun the shift to quantum-safe

$21 Billion

Estimated cost of cybercrime to the US in 2025

Our end-to-end cybersecurity capability helps you address your most complex cybersecurity challenges — from understanding the threat landscape and developing effective strategies to designing and updating cyber programs. Independent research confirms that strong cybersecurity foundations are vital to defending against AI-based cyberattacks, which is why we help organizations build the essential capabilities to withstand them—from robust access management, network segmentation, and automated patching to phishing-resistant MFA, zero-trust architecture, and anomaly detection.

What to Expect

Cyber fundamentals for the AI era

AI has materially increased organizations’ exposure to attack, making investment in cybersecurity fundamentals more urgent than ever. We help you rapidly assess gaps and drive improvements to the required standard.

Operational technology and critical infrastructure protection

Operational tech environments in industries such as energy, utilities, manufacturing, and transport are now significantly more exposed. We help you assess the threat landscape and develop effective approaches for protecting these sensitive environments.

Post-quantum readiness

We deliver comprehensive risk assessments that go beyond cryptography to cover supply chain exposure and build quantum-safe roadmaps so that today’s decisions do not become tomorrow’s liabilities.

Execs Aren’t Prepared for the Post-Quantum Cybersecurity Risks They Know Are Coming

Most expect quantum computing to break today’s cryptography soon, but few have a plan to respond.

Enterprise Technology

Cloud Sovereignty: Maintaining Control Without Losing Scale

Leaders assess future risks to their data and platforms, designing architectures that balance local and global solutions.

Enterprise Technology

Quantum Computing Moves from Theoretical to Inevitable

Quantum will likely become part of a mosaic, working with classical computing to solve big problems.

Our Cybersecurity Consultants

Frank Ford Partner London

Syed Ali Partner Houston

Andrew Cousins Expert Associate Partner London

Alexandra Juegelt Expert Senior Manager, Architecture London

*according to Cybersecurity Ventures

The Cybersecurity Questions Leaders Are Facing Today

How should CEOs respond to AI-powered cyberattacks?
CEOs should respond to AI-powered cyberattacks by investing in cybersecurity fundamentals: access controls, network segmentation, automated patching, zero-trust architecture, and anomaly detection.

This approach works because AI hasn’t created new vulnerabilities—instead, chronic underinvestment in cybersecurity has left deep weaknesses that AI-powered attacks can now find and exploit at machine speed. But most organizations plan budget increases of only around 10% annually, well short of what the threat demands.

The most effective leadership actions are to:
- establish a dedicated AI threat war room to probe the organization’s own systems using the same tools attackers use;
- prioritize fundamental cybersecurity concerns, which already provide meaningful protection against AI-powered attacks;
- address urgent risks to operational technology (OT) environments; and
- prepare for post-quantum computing with a clear risk assessment and roadmap.
Well-hardened organizations are materially more difficult targets for autonomous attacks, even for the most sophisticated AI models.
How do we ensure our increasing cybersecurity spending reduces our actual exposure?
Rising cybersecurity budgets don't automatically shrink risk; spending reduces exposure only when it fixes the foundational weaknesses attackers actually exploit.

Most organizations got here the same way: years of boards and executives treating cybersecurity as a technology problem to hand down. That leaves structural gaps in identity and access management, network segmentation, patching, and anomaly detection—the same controls that decide whether an intruder can move laterally and steal data.

Based on our experience, many large organizations will need to increase spending by up to two times their current levels or even more. But investing in six tactical priorities can meaningfully deepen an organization’s defenses.
1. Automated patching identifies and remediates known vulnerabilities at the speed the threat demands.
2. Zero trust architecture—continuous verification of every user, device, and system—gives AI-enabled attackers far less room to maneuver if they gain a foothold.
3. Anomaly detection identifies unusual behavioral patterns rather than known signatures, a critical defense layer against AI-powered attacks that frequently arrive without a known identity or signature.
4. Modernizing identity controls, including phishing-resistant multifactor authentication, limits the blast radius of a breach.
5. Reducing legacy technical debt removes attack targets that can’t support modern security standards.
6. Addressing supply chain risk matters because a well-defended enterprise can still be compromised through a poorly defended partner, making AI-specific cybersecurity posture a core component of supplier due diligence and third-party risk monitoring.
How should we prepare for quantum computing cybersecurity threats?
To prepare for quantum computing cybersecurity threats, companies can address four priorities:
1. Map the organization’s full cryptographic exposure: every algorithm, protocol, and key in use, and the sensitivity of the data each protects.
2. Adopt post-quantum cryptography with a hybrid approach that pairs a quantum-resistant algorithm with a classical one.
3. Build in crypto-agility—the ability to swap cryptographic algorithms without disrupting the infrastructure or the business applications running on top of it.
4. Make quantum readiness a key criterion in vendor procurement and third-party risk reviews.
Roughly 71% of executives expect quantum-enabled attacks within five years, and nearly a third within three. With the shift to protected systems potentially taking five years or more, the time to act is now. Once powerful enough, quantum attacks could break the asymmetric protocols behind financial transactions, communications, and corporate systems, including Rivest-Shamir-Adleman, Diffie-Hellman, and elliptic-curve cryptography.

Despite the imminent threat, just 10% of companies have a funded roadmap backed by leadership to address quantum risk, and only 38% maintain a comprehensive inventory of cryptographic standards across their environments. Companies heavy with legacy infrastructure are especially exposed to attacks, and any further delay is likely to drive up costs.

Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity