Security Budget Cuts and Recession Spark Worries Among IT Admins

Several IT professionals worry that cybersecurity-specific funding might be at risk, suggests new data by JumpCloud.

According to the company’s Q4 2022 IT Trends for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) report, 44% of those surveyed agree their organization will cut spending on cybersecurity in the next year.

Published earlier today, the research document also mentions that 75% of respondents said cuts to their organization’s security budget would increase organizational risk, and 58% said they were more concerned about their organization’s security posture than they were six months ago.

Factors behind the cuts to cybersecurity funding include inflation, labor shortages, recession talks, market volatility and global conflicts.

Some of these factors are, in turn, also causing licensing costs to increase, with 22% of respondents expecting to spend 50% or more of their budget on licensing in the coming year, up from 17% in April 2022.

Additionally, a considerable size (78%) have reported seeing evidence of a recession in their business; among them, 34% said business has been severely impacted. For 34% of those surveyed, labor shortages significantly impact business or are a severe business limiter.

“SME admins have skillfully managed IT through a period of sustained and unprecedented uncertainty in business and the world,” said JumpCloud CEO Rajat Bhargava commenting on the survey’s results.

According to the executive, SMEs should listen to IT teams’ concerns about the vulnerabilities introduced by tool sprawl and cuts in security budgets, as well as their suggestions for tool consolidation and enhanced security.

“Improving security and reducing costs can go hand in hand with a platform approach that delivers both, offering secure access, improved productivity, and a better overall experience for end users and the IT professionals managing their tech access and apps,” Bhargava concluded.

For additional figures from the latest JumpCloud report, you can follow this link here. Its publication comes days after a separate document by OpenText Security Solutions linked cybersecurity budget cuts to ransomware attacks.