Cloudy Outlook for Cyber Jobs as AI Fills Security Gaps

January 7, 2026 – Published on The Wall Street Journal

Economic uncertainties are driving down cybersecurity hiring, stretching security teams thin amid a proliferation of data breaches, phishing and ransomware attacks, enterprise technology leaders and recruiters say.

Many cyber chiefs, facing flat budget growth, are also redirecting labor costs into automated security tools, both to fill workforce gaps and to keep pace with hackers tapping AI to supercharge attacks, they say.

U.S. companies across all sectors posted 9,215 new cybersecurity jobs in November, down from 10,925 in October and 12,071 in January 2025, according to information-technology trade group CompTIA. There were a total of 24,612 job openings for cybersecurity workers in November, compared with 26,786 at the start of the year, the group said. Across all tech jobs, AI-related openings accounted for nearly half of the active tech-job postings in November.

Gary Brickhouse, CISO of GuidePoint Security, said most employers are coming to terms with the reality that AI helps security teams perform more effectively by improving insights, accelerating access to information and automating execution. But they also know that human oversight remains essential, Brickhouse said.

“AI provides speed and scale, but security operations require auditable decisions, nuanced judgment, and the ability to adapt to novel threats,” he said.

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