US National Security Compliance Risk & Readiness Report

US companies are navigating a national security compliance minefield as they confront evolving challenges from trade wars to military conflicts to AI-enabled cyberattacks. Yet critical gaps in preparedness persist: A third or more of organizations are not fully prepared to address key compliance risks, and nearly a quarter cannot fully articulate their organization’s national security risk profile.

Eversheds Sutherland surveyed more than 100 executives and in-house legal leaders across a dozen industries in May and June 2025 to identify the most urgent compliance risks and how organizations are responding. The findings reveal widespread vulnerabilities and a troubling disconnect between C-suite executives and legal leaders on compliance ownership and risk mitigation strategies.

Key findings from the report:

• Cybersecurity and data protection present near-universal compliance challenges, with 84% of organizations reporting moderate to high risk, yet only 66% feel very prepared to manage these issues effectively.
• Preparedness gaps could leave organizations dangerously exposed, with 62% of respondents identifying cybersecurity and data protection as the greatest compliance risk in the year ahead.
• AI-powered cyberattacks, including deepfakes and voice cloning for social engineering, are evolving faster than many organizations’ fraud prevention strategies.