Privacy budgets shrink in 2025

Privacy budgets shrink in 2025

54 percent of European privacy professionals expect their budget will be cut in the coming year. Confidence that their organization can protect sensitive data from external threats is also particularly low at 38 percent.

According to recent ISACA research, European companies’ privacy budgets are regularly being cut. 45 percent of privacy professionals alone now report that their budgets are inadequate.

The cuts in budgets are striking given the initiatives from the European Union to improve digital privacy. These include, for example, the Digital Services Act and the AI Act. Legislation that these companies now risk being unable to comply with, according to ISACA. Chris Dimitriadis, Global Chief Strategy Officer at ISACA, warns, “While companies may be making a short-term financial gain, they are putting themselves at long-term risk.”

Consequences of limited resources

In addition to inadequate budgets, it remains difficult to fill vacancies. Once positions are filled, 37 percent of companies find it difficult to retain staff.

The consequences of insufficient budgets and personnel are being felt. Only 38 percent of European professionals are confident in their organization’s ability to protect sensitive data.

Solutions to staff shortages

The report indicates that applying Privacy by Design can help manage such problems. Organizations that consistently apply Privacy by Design report better-staffed privacy teams and fewer skills shortages. This does require a good foundation: “this isn’t possible without skilled privacy teams who feel prepared and able to drive privacy practices from a technology, business and compliance point of view,” Dimitriadis says. Moreover, this technique is currently not very well known: only 24 percent of organizations apply it consistently.

Another key strategy is retraining non-privacy staff. 47 percent of European organizations offer training to transition employees to privacy roles.

Also read: Confidential computing creates enclaves of privacy and security