{
  "id": 19525665,
  "title": "Cyber response firms ‘nearing capacity’ as attacks grow",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/11/cyber-response-firms-nearing-capacity-as-attacks-grow",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-11-11T17:10:49.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "City AM",
    "slug": "city-am",
    "url": "https://www.cityam.com/cyber-response-firms-nearing-capacity-as-attacks-grow/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Cybersecurity consultancies are operating at near \"full capacity\" due to a surge in AI-enabled cyberattacks, according to a leading risk advisor. Brent Tomlinson, Kroll's risk advisory president, stated that the best incident response shops are all almost full on capacity. The retail sector has been particularly affected, with major firms like M&S, Co-op, and Asos experiencing significant disruptions following hacking incidents. In a separate attack, supermarket refrigerators across Europe, as well as France's national blood service, were targeted, raising their temperatures. Cyber incident response, which includes detecting, containing, eradicating, and recovering from a cyberattack or security breach, is crucial for businesses to avoid financial or reputational issues. Tomlinson noted that incident firms are now struggling to take on new work due to the scale of demand, adding that he has never seen such a situation before. BT, a telecoms giant, has announced plans to launch a new managed security service using Microsoft technology to capitalize on growing demand for cyber defense. While AI has the potential to transform businesses, Tomlinson cautioned that investors could still lose significant amounts of money, as it does not guarantee a good investment. He pointed out that AI is a \"wildly successful transformational technology\" but warned of the risks involved. In the professional services sector, firms have invested heavily in frontier AI tools that have transformed tasks traditionally done by junior staff. However, concerns about the return on investment have fueled fears that AI firms may be overvalued. Technology stocks experienced a plunge in the US following the Democrats' victory in the mid-term elections, raising concerns that they might stall data center rollouts.",
  "summary": "Top cyber defence consultancies are operating at near “full capacity” after a surge of AI-enabled cyberattacks over the past year, a leading risk advisor has warned. “There’s an interesting dynamic right now in the market where the best incident response shops, […] are all almost full on capacity,” Kroll’s risk advisory president, Brent Tomlinson, told [...]",
  "key_points": [
    "Cybersecurity firms near full capacity due to AI-enabled attacks",
    "Retail sector, including M&S, Co-op, and Asos, severely impacted",
    "BT plans new managed security service using Microsoft technology"
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}