UK organisations’ spending on cybersecurity will represent the largest budget increase of any category over the next 12 months, according to new research.
Ongoing geopolitical tensions and numerous high-profile data breaches and hacks have prompted firms to set cybersecurity as the number one priority for increased investment this year, according to the KPMG Global Tech Report 2026.
According to the report, more than half (57%) of UK organisations reported they are planning on increasing their cybersecurity budget by more than 10% over the next 12 months. This is greater than the global figure of 41%.
AI may be dominating boardroom agendas, but our findings show UK organisations are putting real money behind cyber resilience—more than half are planning double-digit increases,” said Paul Henninger, head of technology and data at KPMG UK.
“The message is clear: don’t buy cyber tools for the sake of it—start with your most critical assets, fix the basics, and assign clear accountability. The organisations that win will treat cyber as an enabler of growth, embedding security into cloud and AI from day one and turning budget into measurable operational resilience.”
Cyber threats in the past year have emerged as a major priority area of concern among corporate boardrooms, with data breaches against the likes of M&S and Jaguar Land Rover leading to millions of lost pounds.
In an effort to respond to the rising threat, the government proposed new cybersecurity legislation late last year.
Read more: Cyber experts predict the state of security in 2026
