Risk Management Tops Cyber Budget Drivers as Modernization Falls 11 Points
Fernando Montenegro, VP & Practice Lead at Futurum, on why risk management strategy (47.8%) has overtaken modernization as the top cybersecurity budget driver, with modernization down 11 points.
Futurum's Fernando Montenegro,
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Fernando Montenegro, The Futurum Group, "Risk Management Tops Cyber Budget Drivers as Modernization Falls 11 Points," August 7, 2026. https://preview.erikbethke.com/press-release/risk-management-tops-cyber-budget-drivers-as-modernization-falls-11-points/
Austin, Texas, USA, August 7, 2026
The vocabulary of cybersecurity spending is shifting from infrastructure refresh to enterprise-risk discipline.
Among organizations expecting cybersecurity budget increases, risk management strategy is now the leading growth driver at 47.8% (top three), according to Futurum’s 1H 2026 Cybersecurity Global Enterprise Decision Maker Survey of 929 global enterprise buyers. Cybersecurity modernization, which led in 2H 2025, fell from 56.0% to 44.7%, the single largest movement in the data.
Figure 1: Risk Management Overtakes Modernization as Top Budget Driver
“Buyers are reframing why they spend. The incremental dollar is now justified in the language of cyber-risk quantification, board-ready reporting, and regulatory alignment rather than infrastructure refresh. Vendors who lead with modernization narratives are increasingly speaking to a rationale that has lost 11 points of mindshare in a single cycle.” — Fernando Montenegro, VP & Practice Lead, Cybersecurity & Resilience, The Futurum Group
The survey reveals several developments reshaping how cybersecurity budgets are justified:
- Risk discipline displaces modernization: Risk management strategy edged ahead of modernization for the first time in the series, consistent with cybersecurity’s rise to a board-level topic.
- Compliance and transformation hold steady: Digital transformation initiatives (36.5%) and regulatory compliance requirements (34.1%) remain durable mid-tier drivers of incremental spend.
- Modernization spend is maturing: The 11-point drop is partly compositional, as prior-period modernization investments have now largely been committed.
Subscribers can read more in the “1H 2026 Cybersecurity Global Enterprise Decision Maker Survey Report,” on the Futurum Intelligence Platform. Non-subscribers click here for more information.
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