2026 Cybersecurity Budget Planning: Make Data Visibility a Priority
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Why Data Visibility Belongs in Your 2026 Cybersecurity Budget
As the fiscal year winds down and security leaders tackle cybersecurity budget planning for 2026, you need to decide how to use every remaining 2025 dollar wisely and how to plan smarter for next year. The question isn’t just what to cut or keep, it’s what creates measurable impact. Across programs, data visibility and DSPM deliver provable risk reduction, faster audits, and clearer ROI,making them priority line items whether you’re spending down this year or shaping next year’s plan. Some teams discover unspent funds after project delays, postponed renewals, or slower-than-expected hiring. Others are already deep in planning mode, mapping next year’s security priorities across people, tools, and processes. Either way, one question looms large: where can a limited security budget make the biggest impact - right now and next year?
Across the industry, one theme is clear: data visibility is no longer a “nice-to-have” line item, it’s a foundational control. Whether you’re allocating leftover funds before year-end or shaping your 2026 strategy, investing in Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) should be part of the plan.
As Bitsight notes, many organizations look for smart ways to use remaining funds that don’t roll over. The goal isn’t simply to spend, it’s to invest in initiatives that improve posture and provide measurable, lasting value. And according to Applied Tech, “using remaining IT funds strategically can strengthen your position for the next budget cycle.”
That same principle applies in cybersecurity. Whether you’re closing out this year or planning for 2026, the focus should be on spending that improves security maturity and tells a story leadership understands. Few areas achieve that more effectively than data-centric visibility.
(For additional background, see Sentra’s article on why DSPM should take a slice of your cybersecurity budget.)
Where to Allocate Remaining Year-End Funds (Without Hurting Next Year’s Budget)
It’s important to utilize all of your 2025 budget allocations because finance departments frequently view underspending as a sign of overfunding, leading to smaller allocations next year. Instead, strategic security teams look for ways to convert every remaining dollar into evidence of progress.
That means focusing on investments that:
- Produce measurable results you can show to leadership.
- Strengthen core program foundations: people, visibility, and process.
- Avoid new recurring costs that stretch future budgets.
Top Investments That Pay Off
1. Invest in Your People
One of the strongest points echoed by security professionals across industry communities: the best investment is almost always your people. Security programs are built on human capability. Certifications, practical training, and professional growth not only expand your team’s skills but also build morale and retention, two things that can’t be bought with tooling alone.
High-impact options include:
- Hands-on training platforms like Hack The Box, INE Skill Dive, or Security Blue Team, which develop real-world skills through simulated environments.
- Professional certifications (SANS GIAC, OSCP, or cloud security credentials) that validate expertise and strengthen your team’s credibility.
- Conference attendance for exposure to new threat perspectives and networking with peers.
- Cross-functional training between SOC, GRC, and AppSec to create operational cohesion.
In practitioner discussions, one common sentiment stood out: training isn’t just an expense, it’s proof of leadership maturity.
As one manager put it, “If you want your analysts to go the extra mile during an incident, show you’ll go the extra mile for them when things are calm.”
2. Invest in Data Visibility (DSPM)
While team capability drives execution, data visibility drives confidence. In recent conversations among mid-market and enterprise security teams, Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) repeatedly surfaced as one of the most valuable investments made in the past year, especially for hybrid-cloud environments.
One security leader described it this way:
“After implementing DSPM, we finally had a clear picture of where sensitive data actually lived. It saved our team hours of manual chasing and made the audit season much easier.”
That feedback reflects a growing consensus: without visibility into where sensitive data resides, who can access it, and how it’s secured, every other layer of defense operates partly in the dark.
*Tip: If your remaining 2025 budget won’t suffice for a full DSPM deployment, you can scope an initial implementation with the remaining budget, then expand to full coverage in 2026.
DSPM solutions provide that clarity by helping teams:
- Map and classify sensitive data across multi-cloud and SaaS environments.
- Identify access misconfigurations or risky sharing patterns.
- Detect policy violations or overexposure before they become incidents.
Beyond security operations, DSPM delivers something finance and leadership appreciate, measurable proof. Dashboards and reports make risk tangible, allowing CISOs to demonstrate progress in data protection and compliance.
The takeaway: DSPM isn’t just a good way to use remaining funds, it’s a baseline investment every forward-looking security program should plan for in 2026 and beyond.
3. Invest in Testing
Training builds capability. Visibility builds understanding. Testing builds credibility.
External red team, purple team, or security posture assessments continue to be among the most effective ways to validate your defenses and generate actionable findings.
Security practitioners often point out that testing engagements create outcomes leadership understands:
“Training is great, but it’s hard to quantify. An external assessment gives you findings, metrics, and a roadmap you can point to when defending next year’s budget.”
Well-scoped assessments do more than uncover vulnerabilities—they benchmark performance, expose process gaps, and generate data-backed justification for continued investment.
4. Preserve Flexibility with a Retainer
If your team can’t launch a new project before year-end, a retainer with a trusted partner is an efficient way to preserve funds without waste. Retainers can cover services like penetration testing, incident response, or advisory hours, providing flexibility when unpredictable needs arise. This approach, often recommended by veteran CISOs, allows teams to close their books responsibly while keeping agility for the next fiscal year.
5. Strengthen Your Foundations
Not every valuable investment requires new tools. Several practitioners emphasized the long-term returns from process improvements and collaboration-focused initiatives:
- Threat modeling workshops that align development and security priorities.
- Framework assessments (like NIST CSF or ISO 27001) that provide measurable baselines.
- Automation pilots to eliminate repetitive manual work.
- Internal tabletop exercises that enhance cross-team coordination.
These lower-cost efforts improve resilience and efficiency, two metrics that always matter in budget conversations.
How to Decide: A Simple, Measurable Framework
When evaluating where to allocate remaining or future funds, apply a simple framework:
- Identify what’s lagging. Which pillar - people, visibility, or process most limits your current effectiveness?
- Choose something measurable. Prioritize initiatives that produce clear, demonstrable outputs: reports, dashboards, certifications.
- Aim for dual impact. Every investment should strengthen both your operations and your ability to justify next year’s funding.
Final Thoughts
A strong security budget isn’t just about defense, it’s about direction. Every spend tells a story about how your organization prioritizes resilience, efficiency, and visibility.
Whether you’re closing out this year’s funds or preparing your 2026 plan, focus on investments that create both operational value and executive clarity. Because while technologies evolve and threats shift, understanding where your data is, who can access it, and how it’s protected remains the cornerstone of a mature security program.
Or, as one practitioner summed it up: “Spend on the things that make next year’s budget conversation easier.”
DSPM fits that description perfectly.
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Ward Balcerzak is Field CISO at Sentra, bringing nearly two decades of cybersecurity experience across Fortune 500 companies, defense, manufacturing, consulting, and the vendor landscape. He has built and led data security programs in some of the world’s most complex environments, and is passionate about making true data security achievable. At Sentra, Ward helps bridge real-world enterprise needs with modern, cloud-native security solutions.
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