Cybersecurity spending is rising, but AI-powered threats are advancing even faster. BCG’s 2026 survey of 300 CISOs found security spending increased 12% in 2025, while 89% of organizations still experienced AI-enabled attacks.
Gartner expects global information-security spending to reach $244.2 billion in 2026, up 13.3%. Yet enterprises reportedly spend far more on deploying AI tools than securing them, creating a widening protection gap as agentic AI adoption accelerates.
AI-related cybersecurity now accounts for more than 11% of security budgets, according to ISG. Meanwhile, Thales reports that 59% of organizations have encountered deepfake attacks, highlighting synthetic media as an expanding enterprise risk.
The imbalance is affecting resilience. About 53% of IT leaders say AI investment is diverting resources from foundational areas such as backup and recovery, while ransomware concerns remain high.
The message for CISOs is clear: AI security must evolve from an incremental budget item into a core cybersecurity priority.
