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Cybersecurity affordability is a real pressure for many organizations, especially small businesses, but the available surveys do not prove there is a universal crisis. ISC2 respondents reported budget and staffing constraints in 2025, while a separate U.S. small-business survey found that cost prevented many firms from upgrading security tools. Those results describe different populations and measures, so they show strain—not a single price tag for adequate security.
What does “affordability crisis” mean here?
It means organizations report difficulty paying for the people, skills, and tools they believe they need to manage cybersecurity. The evidence supports that narrower claim. It does not establish that every organization is underfunded, define a universal threshold for a crisis, or show how much a company should spend.
The figures come from surveys rather than a census of employers or a comparable accounting of cybersecurity costs. ISC2’s annual workforce studies ask cybersecurity practitioners and decision-makers across multiple regions about conditions at their organizations. CrowdStrike’s commissioned survey covered 291 U.S. small-business professionals at organizations with 1–249 employees, fielded February–March 2025. Their results should not be treated as interchangeable.
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Budget pressure persisted, but the reported rate leveled off
In ISC2’s 2024 workforce study, 37% of respondents said their organizations had experienced cybersecurity budget cuts in 2024, compared with 30% who reported cuts in 2023. In its 2025 study, 36% reported budget cuts. ISC2 characterized the pressures as leveling off rather than getting considerably worse; the 2025 figure is close to the prior year’s, not evidence that budget pressure disappeared. ISC2 2024 study · ISC2 2025 study
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Some respondents reported hiring and retention constraints
In ISC2’s 2025 survey, 39% of respondents reported hiring freezes at their organizations and 24% reported cybersecurity layoffs. These are respondents’ reports, not a count of all employers or workers. The survey also found that 33% said their organizations lacked the budget to staff teams adequately, while 29% said they could not afford to hire people with needed skills.
Headcount is only part of the capacity problem
In the same 2025 ISC2 study, 95% of respondents reported at least one skills need, and 59% described their organization’s skills needs as critical or significant. That points to capability gaps as well as staffing levels: adding positions alone may not address a shortage of particular expertise. ISC2’s 2024 workforce-gap estimate is a proprietary study measure and is explicitly not an estimate of current job openings, so it should not be read as a tally of vacancies. ISC2 2025 study · ISC2 2024 study
Can small businesses afford cybersecurity?
The CrowdStrike-commissioned U.S. survey offers a concrete sign of cost barriers among smaller organizations: two-thirds of surveyed small-business professionals said cost prevented their organizations from upgrading security tools, and 7% considered their current cybersecurity budget fully sufficient. These responses apply to the 291 professionals surveyed in February–March 2025 at U.S. organizations with 1–249 employees; they are not a measure of all small businesses or of how much an adequate program costs. CrowdStrike State of SMB Cybersecurity Survey
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The same survey found that 70% of respondents relied on outside experts to guide security decisions. That describes reported reliance, not whether a particular outside service is suitable, less expensive, or likely to reduce total costs for a given company. CrowdStrike survey
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Why the evidence does not set a cybersecurity budget
The surveys document reported constraints, but they do not provide a representative cross-market dollar figure for an adequate cybersecurity program or a threshold at which spending becomes affordable. They also do not provide comparable organization-level costs that would support a reliable budget recommendation. A company’s circumstances cannot be reduced to a universal amount using these results.
CISA’s May 23, 2023 small- and medium-sized-business supply-chain risk fact sheet provides context rather than a cost benchmark: it says many such businesses lack dedicated internal risk-management experts or functions and advises integrating cybersecurity into decisions, budgets, and operations. It does not establish what a business should spend in 2026. CISA SMB ICT supply-chain risk fact sheet
How to read the findings for your organization
- Separate pressure from prevalence. A reported budget cut or tool-upgrade barrier is evidence of strain among survey respondents, not proof that every company faces the same problem.
- Distinguish people from skills. Headcount limits and difficulty finding particular capabilities are related but different constraints.
- Do not infer savings from outsourcing. The SMB survey records reliance on outside experts; it does not compare their cost with internal teams or show that outsourcing lowers total spend.
- Assess your own needs. The cited surveys do not prescribe a spending target. CISA’s guidance instead supports integrating security considerations into business decisions, budgets, and operations.
So, is cyber facing an affordability crisis?
For many survey respondents—particularly small businesses reporting cost barriers, and teams facing budget, staffing, or skills constraints—affordability is a serious challenge. But the evidence is mixed on whether pressure is worsening, and it does not establish a universal crisis or a standard amount every organization needs to spend. The most defensible answer is that cybersecurity affordability is a real, uneven problem, not a condition the available surveys show to be universal.
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