Nearly 60% of respondents to Optiv and Ponemon Institute’s 2024 survey said their organizations increased cybersecurity investment allocations in 2024. That means nearly 60% reported an increase—not that cybersecurity budgets rose by 60%. The report also found that 61% of respondents had experienced a data breach or cybersecurity incident in the preceding two years.
What did the report find about cybersecurity budgets?
In its June 25, 2024 announcement of the 2024 Threat and Risk Management Report, Optiv said nearly 60% of respondents reported that their organizations increased allocations to cybersecurity investments in 2024. The figure is the share of respondents reporting an increase; it does not describe the average size of those increases or establish that overall spending rose by 60%. Optiv’s announcement describes the report as examining cybersecurity investment and governance priorities amid an evolving threat landscape.
Finding for larger organizations
In a separate subgroup result, Optiv reported that 63% of organizations with more than 5,000 employees had an average of $26 million allocated to cybersecurity investments in 2024. This applies to that large-organization subgroup, not to all respondents or organizations generally.
What did respondents report about breaches and incidents?
Optiv reported that 61% of respondents had experienced a data breach or cybersecurity incident in the two years before the survey. In that same period, 55% said they had experienced four or more incidents. These are distinct measures: the first covers respondents reporting at least one breach or incident, while the second identifies those reporting four or more.
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The figures describe survey responses, not a census of organizations. They do not show whether increased investment prevented incidents, reduced their frequency, or followed an incident.
How did organizations measure cybersecurity risk management?
The report-page summary lists three measures respondents used to report on cybersecurity risk-management programs:
- Time to detect an incident: cited by 47% of respondents.
- Time to contain an incident: cited by 43%.
- Time to recover from an incident: cited by 41%.
These are reported metrics, not results showing how quickly organizations detected, contained, or recovered from incidents. The summary is on Optiv’s report page, which says the report was developed by Ponemon Institute and Optiv.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What the findings do—and do not—say about security spending
Taken together, the results show that many respondents reported increased cybersecurity allocations while breaches and incidents remained common among respondents in the preceding two years. They do not establish that spending increases were caused by incidents, that higher budgets failed to improve security, or that additional investment guarantees fewer breaches. The survey findings are best read as indicators of reported investment and experience, not evidence of cause and effect.
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One free scan finds every outdated or missing driver and matches the right update for your exact hardware.Free scan · exact hardware matchOptiv’s 2025 announcement separately says that 67% used risk and threat assessments to inform budget decisions, compared with 53% in 2024. Those are figures from separate report editions; without confirmation that the respondent populations and measures are comparable, they should not be treated as a direct year-over-year trend. Optiv’s 2025 announcement provides that later context.
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How to read the survey figures
- Budget increase: nearly 60% is the proportion of respondents reporting an increase in 2024, not the percentage by which budgets increased.
- Incident window: the 61% and 55% figures refer to the two years preceding the survey.
- Organization size: the $26 million average allocation is tied to the subgroup with more than 5,000 employees.
- Scope: the available source summaries do not establish the exact sample size, respondent geography, or full survey methodology. The findings should not be generalized beyond the respondents and subgroups described.
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