One CISO For 10,000 companies: Cybersecurity On Too Few Shoulders
This week in cybersecurity from the editors at Cybercrime Magazine
Sausalito, Calif. – Apr. 24, 2026
– Read the full story in it-daily.net
According to the 2026 CISO Report, published by Cybersecurity Ventures in collaboration with Sophos, a massive gap exists in strategic security leadership.
Worldwide, just around 35,000 Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) are currently active. This small group of experts faces a staggering number of approximately 359 million businesses. Statistically, that means a single CISO is responsible for more than 10,000 organizations.
While Fortune 500 and Global 2000 companies have near-universal access to dedicated security chiefs, the rest of the world economy, and especially small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs), is left without this critical function. Four out of five small businesses experienced a security incident in the past year, often resulting in six-figure losses that can be existentially threatening to them.
The urgency for new models is underscored by the forecasts, Bavaria, Germany-based IT-Verlag GmbH reports in it’s it-daily-net media. Cybersecurity Ventures estimates that the global cost of cybercrime will climb to $12.2 trillion annually by 2031. For 2026 alone, ransomware damages are projected at around $74 billion.
The report sees the answer in Managed Service Providers (MSPs) and Managed Security Service Providers (MSSPs), acting as force multipliers. Through hybrid models that combine human expertise with modern technology, including agent-based AI, strategic functions such as governance, compliance, and risk management can be industrialized and delivered at scale.
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