Those sectors seeing security budget increases are financial services, technology, retail and hospitality, and legal. Those seeing decreases are healthcare, business services, consumer goods and services, and manufacturing. These may be organizations hit hardest by inflation and that are not only cutting cyber budgets but overall spending, the report says.

Headcount growth cooling

Security headcount growth is also cooling. While still double-digit, staff was expected to grow 12% this year, down from 16% last year and 31% in 2022. Put another way, 52% of CISOs planned to add headcount this year, slightly down from the 55% of respondents in 2023 who said they would add staff, and markedly down from 68% in 2022.

For the last 12 months, the report said, it has been difficult for CISOs to add staff even when there’s a need. “Teams are being asked to do more with less, and CISOs are finding it difficult to get budget for recruiting and hiring. This puts a lot of pressure not only on CISOs, but also on their teams.”