IANS: CISOs Use AI to Expand Security Teams’ Capacity, Not Cut Staff
Summary
IANS research and an interview with its CISO research director indicate that security leaders are using AI to automate routine work and reskill teams, while facing higher vendor costs and new questions about returns and risk.
Key points
- Most CISOs surveyed do not currently expect AI to shrink security teams; they anticipate doing more with existing staff through automation, reskilling, and reorganizing work.
- Teams are automating routine SOC tasks and data analysis, with junior staff being upskilled and senior professionals taking on more complex decisions.
- AI-related vendor capabilities are driving price increases, and some CISOs are considering smaller vendors or building solutions in-house.
- CISOs are using business interest in AI to seek resources for security needs, including existing operational and technology debt.
- Boards are beginning to ask whether AI investments deliver measurable efficiency and returns, and whether adoption is creating excessive risk.
- Interviewee Nick Kakolowski says AI amplifies longstanding security issues, including phishing, weak permissions, secrets management, and inadequate data classification.
- Some organizations are more willing to automate patching despite the possibility of disruption, weighing that risk against leaving patches unapplied.
Article Details
- Event Type
- IANS research and interview on how AI adoption is reshaping CISO security-team staffing, budgets, and operations.
- Impact
- CISOs generally expect AI to help existing security teams handle more work rather than reduce team size, while automating routine tasks, reskilling employees, and shifting experienced staff toward more complex decisions. AI-related vendor price increases are pressuring budgets; some CISOs are using AI initiatives to justify additional security resources. The article reports no specific breach or confirmed organizational impact.
People
Vendors
Artico Searchme, Kristina. It's great to be here. I'm Nick Kakolowski, senior director for CISO research at IANS. Artico Search and IANS work together on a CISO compensation and budget survey every year. And we've recently done aIANSNew research from IANS finds that CISOs are largely looking to AI to help their existing teams do more, while rethinking how work gets divided between junior and senior security professionals.