91% of organizations expect identity investment to increase in the next 12–18 months.

Cybersecurity budgets among larger or IT-intensive organizations in the Nordics is approximately 2% of the IT budget.

The dominant range for cybersecurity budgets among Nordic organizations remains approximately 5 to 10% of the IT budget (45% compared to 47% in 2024), with an average of approximately 7%.

68% of Nordic CISOs reported an increase in cybersecurity budgets, bringing it to the 2024 level, while 14% reported no changes, and 9% reported a decrease in budget.

Cybersecurity budgets among regulated, industrial, or OT-intensive environments in the Nordics is approximately 15% of the IT budget.

AI and automation serve as the primary catalyst for cybersecurity budget expansion for 44% of organizations, followed by cloud infrastructure growth (33%) and mainstream business AI adoption (32%).

95% of organizations are increasing cybersecurity budgets in 2026.

74% of organizations are seeing double-digit cybersecurity budget growth in 2026.

44% of organizations identify AI as the top driver of cybersecurity budget increases.

32% of organizations identify AI as the most challenging cybersecurity spend to justify to business stakeholders.

30% of security leaders cite a lack of board understanding of the link between cybersecurity investment and business resilience as their biggest challenge in defending spend.

44% of organizations would cut AI investment first if cybersecurity budgets tightened.

87% of security leaders express confidence that their cybersecurity investments are delivering business value.

17% of SMBs significantly increased their cybersecurity spend.

16% of SMBs allocate less than $50 per user on security annually.

Half of SMBs reported increasing their cybersecurity budgets.

98% of security leaders at U.S. organizations confirmed budget increases in the last 12 months.

31% of SMB owners don't know exactly how much they spend on cybersecurity.

42% of leaders at U.S. organizations are making identity and access management a top budget priority over the next two to three years.

99% of security leaders at U.S. organizations with at least $1 billion in revenue plan to increase their cybersecurity budgets over the next two to three years.