We recently hosted a dynamic panel discussion on the evolving risk landscape in partnership with Corps Security, Institute of Strategic Risk Management (ISRM) and MX4 foundation featuring insights from a room full of security and resilience experts.
Panellists:
Moderator:
To kick off the session, we reflected on the findings of the Global Risks Report 2025, which paints a stark picture of a world increasingly fractured across geopolitical, environmental, societal, economic, and technological domains.
Over the past year we’ve witnessed escalating conflicts, extreme weather events, deepening societal and political polarisation, and rapid technological advancements that continue to reshape the way we live and work.
As the panel noted, these trends highlight a stark reality - the only certainty in today’s world is uncertainty. Risks are becoming more interconnected, unprecedented, and difficult to navigate. The traditional frameworks and tools we’ve relied on to understand and manage risks were designed for a different era, and they are no longer sufficient in this one.
The panel agreed that the challenge is not simply to keep pace with risks but to fundamentally rethink how we approach both risk and resilience. We are living through a paradigm shift, where the tools, language, and assumptions of the past fail to address the converging threats of today’s world. As the discussion progressed, a pivotal question emerged: What sort of organisations do we need to be by 2027 to survive and thrive?
For years, security, risk, and resilience have been treated as distinct and siloed functions -but the world doesn’t operate in silos, and neither do today’s threats. The panel stressed that Cyber and Physical security risks, once seen as separate domains, now converge. Attackers are blending tactics - starting online, moving to physical infiltration, and exploiting gaps in disconnected defences. Despite this, defenders still remain fragmented, relying on outdated structures that aren’t effective against today’s attackers.
The panel emphasized the need to abandon hard separations and embrace convergence, which means integrating policies, processes, and people into a unified approach. Resilience isn't about surviving a crisis but using it as a learning opportunity to thrive.
Resilience shouldn’t just be a buzzword in an organisation – it should be the key to your survival in an increasingly volatile world. To prepare for the future, organisations must ask themselves hard questions:
The panel discussion highlighted the importance of testing and scenario planning to identify weaknesses, build muscle memory, and ensure plans translate into practical capabilities. The panel stressed that organisations must move beyond isolated risks, and begin connecting the dots across functions, departments, and geographies. Resilience isn’t just about surviving disruption - it’s about leveraging it to grow stronger.
To truly understand and defend against blended threats, organisations must be tested in a blended way. Only by mirroring the complexity of modern threats can organisations develop resilience that holds up under pressure.
As one panellist put it, "There’s nothing in life we get right the first time, so why expect people to perform perfectly in a crisis? Organisations need to test their responses in advance, thrashing out scenarios and preparing for rapid activation and prudent de-escalation."
The panel also encouraged organisations to adopt a start-up mentality, urging them to reassess their security and resilience strategies every quarter in response to the ever-accelerating pace of change.
Building resilience requires continuous learning and practice. It means embedding training, scenario planning, and regular reviews into an organisation’s culture, ensuring teams are equipped to adapt swiftly when it matters most.
One of the most significant barriers to resilience is culture. As the panel noted, security is too often perceived as reactive, siloed, or a “grudge purchase” - a cost rather than an enabler. To change this, organisations need to embed security and resilience into their core DNA.
This cultural shift must start at the top, with leadership taking ownership of risk and resilience. The panel emphasised the importance of “small wins”: simple, actionable steps that build momentum and demonstrate the value of resilience. These changes, no matter how incremental, lay the foundation for larger, transformative shifts.
A key focus of the discussion was the transformative potential of Martyn’s Law, the first piece of UK legislation to mandate how organisations approach physical security. The panel agreed that this is a groundbreaking shift, tying liability and accountability directly to security risk management. The panel highlighted the need for clear, actionable standards for resilience. These standards must bridge the gap between cyber and physical domains, creating a unified framework that organisations can adopt.
Finally, the panel addressed a critical challenge - the future of the security profession. The industry remains fractured, with too few young people, women, and diverse voices entering the field. Security is often seen as a second-choice career, rather than a first choice calling.
To change this, the industry must unite and speak with one voice. Initiatives to attract diverse talent, invest in training, and modernise perceptions of security are essential. The next generation of security professionals must be equipped to thrive in a converged, fast-changing world.
The key takeaway from the Global Risk Panel is clear - we’re in a Darwinian stage of evolution. Those who adapt will survive, and those who thrive will do so by embracing convergence and developing resilience to the risks they face. The future is uncertain, with emerging risks like the rise of generative AI creating new vulnerabilities, quantum computing threatening to upend encryption, and geopolitical tensions, economic instability, and disruptive weather events escalating in frequency and severity.
Organisations must move from fragmented silos to integrated systems, from reactive mindsets to proactive strategies, and from rigid hierarchies to dynamic, learning-focused cultures. It’s not just about surviving the next crisis but building the ability to adapt, learn, and grow stronger.
The future is uncertain, but one thing is clear - resilience isn’t optional, it’s the foundation for success in an unpredictable world.