AI drives security budget growth
AI is the top cybersecurity budget driver, but oddly enough, also the number one target for cuts if budgets tighten and the hardest investment to justify. This is the key finding of a survey conducted by Exabeam and Sapio Research.
The survey included 750 IT decision-makers from 12 countries to understand cybersecurity investment approaches in the AI era, focusing on 2026 budgets, AI strategies, investment challenges, and security program value measurement.
Cybersecurity budgets are growing fast, with 95 percent of organizations increasing security spending and 74 percent reporting double-digit growth for 2026. However, rather than building larger teams, organizations are investing in an AI-driven transformation that is changing how security operations function, how resources are deployed, and how value is measured.
AI is already improving or will improve security operations by the end of 2026, according to 92 percent of the respondents, with a focus on threat detection (38%), workforce productivity (38%), and automated response (35%).
Notwithstanding, AI and automation are simultaneously the top drivers of budget increases (44%) and the investments most at risk if budgets tighten (also 44%). Organizations are receiving mandates to invest in AI, but they lack the frameworks to measure and communicate its value effectively.
Security leaders face mounting pressure to adopt AI quickly, but many struggle to articulate its business value to boards and executive stakeholders. The result is that these cybersecurity executives are racing ahead on transformation while falling behind on measurement, communication, and strategic alignment.
This disconnect between innovation and justification isn’t just an internal reporting challenge; it’s a vulnerability that could undermine sustained investment, stresses the report. While 87 percent of security leaders express confidence in delivering business value, 30 percent cite a lack of board understanding of the link between cybersecurity investment and business resilience as their biggest challenge in defending their investments in AI.
According to the report's authors, the organizations that succeed in 2026 and beyond will be those that deploy AI effectively and demonstrate convincingly and quantitatively that it’s delivering the security outcomes and business value that justify the spend. This requires new approaches to measuring success, new
narratives for communicating value, and strategic alignment between security operations and business leadership.
Forty Dutch IT decision-makers participated in the research. They expected their organizations to invest heavily in cybersecurity in 2026: 95 percent will increase their budget, and almost three-quarters foresee a double-digit budget growth, which is justified by AI investments in security operations.
Thirty percent of the participating Dutch organizations are already seeing concrete operational improvements, while over sixty percent expect to see an impact this year.
Despite this, the Dutch respondents' current confidence in AI was rather low (30%) compared to those surveyed from other countries. Executives from Saudi Arabia (75%), France (50%), Germany (48%), the US (45%), and India (44%) showed much higher confidence levels. By contrast, the Dutch future expectations from AI-driven security operations were the highest (63%) of all countries surveyed.