Fortinet report flags widening “complexity gap” in cloud security as teams struggle to keep pace

Cloud security is becoming harder to manage, not because organisations lack tools, but because the pace and scale of cloud adoption are outstripping security teams’ ability to maintain real-time visibility and control. That is the central finding of Fortinet’s 2026 State of Cloud Security Report, which points to what it calls a growing “complexity gap” across enterprise cloud environments.

The report, produced by Cybersecurity Insiders and based on a global survey of more than 1,160 cybersecurity leaders and practitioners, suggests that cloud security challenges are no longer driven by isolated vulnerabilities. Instead, they stem from a structural mismatch between highly dynamic cloud environments and security models that remain fragmented, understaffed, and heavily manual.

Fragmentation, skills shortages and machine-speed threats

According to the findings, the complexity gap is being reinforced by three interlinked factors.

First is fragmented defence. As organisations expand their cloud footprints, security tools ...