CISOs Grapple With AI Demands Within Flat Budgets
Help Net Security, Monday, April 6th, 2026
Security spending continues to edge upward across large organizations, though the changes remain gradual and tightly managed. The 2026 RH-ISAC CISO Benchmark reflects a steady environment where budgets expand in small steps, even as AI becomes a routine part of security operations.
Spending levels increased during 2025 across both IT and security. Average IT spend as a share of revenue rose to 3.9% from 3.2% the year before. Security spend followed a similar path, reaching 0.75% of revenue, up from 0.57%. Security's share of the IT budget moved slightly to 5.8%.
Planning for 2026 continues along the same track. More than half of respondents expect their security budgets to increase, with most of those increases falling in the 1% to 10% range. A third expect budgets to hold steady, and a smaller group expects reductions.