Cybersecurity budgets are tightening amid economic uncertainty

Your sanity isn’t the only casualty of the economic uncertainty of 2025.

Cybersecurity budgets shrank from last year, growing an average of 4% in 2025 compared to 8% in 2024, according to a report from cybersecurity firm IANS Research and executive search firm Artico Search. That marks “the lowest growth rate in five years,” the report noted.

Fewer than half of the nearly 600 CISOs polled said their security budgets increased this year, a dip from 62% in 2024 and 78% in 2022. Now, 54% of CISOs said their budgets are “flat or shrinking.”

The report’s authors noted that the change marks “a departure from the trends that defined the post-pandemic recovery years.” The likely culprit behind the slowdown is also the elephant in every C-suite right now: economic uncertainty.

This “period of financial constraint” for cybersecurity programs is “fueled by global market volatility and fluctuating inflation,” the report’s authors explained. Not shocking, given the timing: The study was conducted from April to August 2025.

“Once again, we find that security is not immune to macro conditions,” Steve Martano, a partner in Artico Search’s cybersecurity practice and an IANS faculty member, said in a statement. “Most CISOs are not receiving budget increases despite security typically being identified in the top five risks for companies.”

Industries that are particularly vulnerable to “global economic uncertainty, inflation, and sector-specific instability” were especially hard-hit; CISOs in healthcare, professional services, retail, and hospitality were among the “most likely to report flat or reduced budgets,” the report said.

While CISOs in certain industries—like financial services, insurance, and tech—reported security budget growth rates above 5%, the authors added that “even among these better-positioned sectors, few are immune to the resource allocation challenges that are emerging as companies reassess spending priorities.”