Nuspire, a leading managed security services provider (MSSP), announced findings from its second annual research study, revealing current challenges, priorities and purchasing trends of Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs). 

"As we've seen in previous years, the current economic conditions have shown how resilient cybersecurity budgets are in the face of business cost reductions. In fact, 58% of respondents indicated their budgets had increased, with 42% planning to increase budgets even more," said Lewie Dunsworth, CEO of Nuspire. "When looking at where CISOs are spending those budgets, we saw a clear focus on optimization of existing security technology, 24x7 threat monitoring and response, and overall security program improvements. It's great to see that security leaders are focusing their resources on optimizing the investments they have already made, which should result in better performance for their programs."

 The study also charts how CISOs' and IT security decision-makers' (ITDMs) challenges and priorities have evolved since the first report was published in August 2022. Changes include a significant reduction in concerns over securing a remote workforce and an increased focus on cybersecurity insurance and incident response. 

Additional findings from the study include:

1. Ten percent of CISOs/ITDMs manage all of their cybersecurity needs in-house.

2. CISOs/ITDMs with less than $1 million for outsourcing are more likely not to outsource compared to their peers with larger budgets.

3. CISOs/ITDMs report increased confidence in their cybersecurity systems, especially considering their security strategy relative to end-user compliance and peers.

4. CISOs/ITDMs are now more concerned with software applications and email/collaboration tools versus end users and endpoints, which topped the list last year.

5. The unique challenges and IT pressures of remote work have fizzled out from the benchmark study, making way for greater emphasis on attracting and retaining skilled cybersecurity professionals.

Nuspire's research methodology involved anonymously surveying more than 200 U.S.-based CISOs and ITDMs from large to mid-size enterprise organizations across various industries, including manufacturing, financial services, information technology, healthcare, retail and more.

The "Second Annual CISO Research Report on Challenges and Buying Trends: A Focus on Optimization" is available on Nuspire's website.