The Cybersecurity Optimism Gap: When Leaders and Frontline Teams See Different Realities
Bitdefender, Thursday, October 8th, 2026
Bitdefender survey finds security leaders rate their cyber posture 8% higher than frontline practitioners do.
The 2026 Bitdefender Cybersecurity Assessment, a survey of 1,200 IT and security professionals across six countries, found that leaders rated their organization's cybersecurity posture 8% higher on average than frontline practitioners did.
The biggest gap concerned internal AI visibility, with 57.8% of managers and leaders claiming full visibility into employee AI tools versus 45.9% of practitioners, who see the unknown apps, extensions, coding assistants and agents leadership may miss.
Bitdefender explores how this optimism gap can distort priorities, investments and risk decisions.