Cybersecurity has become one of the most closely scrutinized lines in IT budgets.
In 2024, organizations devoted an average 13.2% of their total IT budgets to cybersecurity, up from 8.6% in 2020, according to Help Net Security (HelpNetSecurity, 2024).
With the growing complexity of digital transformation, cloud migration, and regulatory requirements such as DORA and NIS2, leaders can no longer just ask, “How much should we spend?” The question is, “How do we spend it effectively – across prevention, detection, and response?”
The average global cost of a data breach reached USD 4.88 million in 2024, according to IBM’s annual Cost of a Data Breach Report. In 2025, IBM found the figure decreased slightly to USD 4.44 million, the first drop in five years (IBM, 2025).
In the United States, however, the situation remains severe: the average breach cost climbed to USD 10.22 million, more than double the global mean (IBM, 2025).
The same report revealed that organizations using security AI and automation save an average of USD 2.22 million per incident, demonstrating the financial leverage of well-placed investments in detection and response (CSO Online, 2024).
There is no universal formula, but multiple research groups – including Gartner, IBM, and industry studies – suggest the following balanced ranges:
This balance ensures security programs can both stop and survive attacks—especially important as business continuity and reputational recovery costs rise.
Identity and Access Management (IAM) remains one of the highest-return preventive controls.
According to Forrester Research, 20–30% of all IT helpdesk calls are password resets, each costing about USD 70 on average (Avatier, citing Forrester).
Implementing self-service password reset tools and automated provisioning can therefore deliver measurable cost reduction while improving security hygiene.
Beyond operational savings, IAM investments directly improve compliance readiness under DORA and NIS2 by ensuring accountability, auditability, and least-privilege access across hybrid environments.
IBM’s 2025 breach report found that organizations with AI-driven security automation detected and contained breaches 108 days faster on average than those without it (IBM, 2025).
This speed differential is critical: every additional day of exposure increases containment and legal costs.
Investments in automation, managed SOCs, and cloud-native threat detection platforms are therefore not optional—they’re multipliers that reduce breach duration, risk exposure, and cost per incident.
Map spend directly to the organization’s most valuable assets and critical business functions.
Balance awareness, governance, and automation to avoid over-investing in tools without operational maturity.
Red teaming, attack simulation, and penetration testing ensure that controls perform as intended.
Outsourcing detection or response can be cost-effective for smaller enterprises with limited in-house capacity.
Use metrics such as reduced mean time to detect (MTTD), mean time to respond (MTTR), and cost avoidance per prevented incident.
Executives and boards care less about “security posture” and more about risk reduction, financial exposure, and operational continuity.
The most effective CISOs translate investments into clear outcomes:
When expressed in financial terms – cost avoidance, continuity, and trust – security spending becomes a business enabler, not a cost center.
The next budgeting cycle will be shaped by three forces:
Investments in identity, detection automation, and governance will remain the highest-value levers in the year ahead.
Cybersecurity budgets are not defense costs—they are investments in trust, resilience, and continuity.
Organizations that align their spending with quantifiable risk and measurable outcomes will not only minimize losses but maximize confidence—inside their teams, across partners, and in the eyes of their customers.