How to secure budget for Cybersecurity
Why our cyber budget keeps getting cut - and how to make the CFO say 'yes'
Picture this: You’re in the boardroom, making your case for a bigger cybersecurity budget. You’ve got data, risk reports, and even a few scary breach statistics.
Then the CFO leans back and says
“We haven’t had a breach, so why spend more?”
Ouch.
Sound familiar? It happens because you’re speaking cybersecurity, and they’re speaking business.
If you want more budget, you need to change your approach. Forget technical arguments. Speak in numbers the board actually cares about - ROI, revenue protection, and competitive advantage.
Why Cyber Budgets Get Cut (And How to Change That)
Let’s get one thing straight: It’s not that leadership doesn’t care about security. They just don’t see the financial urgency.
Think about it:
Marketing brings in more customers.
Operations improve efficiency.
Cybersecurity? It’s just an expense… until there’s a breach.
And that’s the problem. Security is only “proven” when it fails.
Your job? Make cybersecurity an investment, not a cost.
Here’s exactly how to do that.
Step 1: Translate Cyber Risk into Dollars
Executives don’t lose sleep over “zero-day vulnerabilities” or “advanced persistent threats.”
But they do worry about:
Lost revenue from downtime
Regulatory fines that kill quarterly earnings
Stock price drops from a public breach
So instead of saying:
“We need $1M for endpoint security.”
Say this instead:
“If we get hit with ransomware, we could lose $10M in downtime and fines. A $1M investment now prevents that risk.”
See the difference? Now, cybersecurity has a price tag - and so does inaction.
Want to go deeper? Use the FAIR Model (Factor Analysis of Information Risk) to put real dollar values on cyber risks.
Step 2: Show the Cost of Doing Nothing
Executives love return on investment (ROI).
So, let’s flip the script: What’s the cost of not investing in cybersecurity?
Take a real-world example:
Equifax’s 2017 data breach - Caused by a failure to patch a known vulnerability. Total cost? $1.4 billion in lawsuits, fines, and reputation damage.
Now, imagine presenting this to your CFO:
“If a breach costs us even 1% of what happened to Equifax, that’s $10M gone. But a $500K investment today protects us from that risk.”
Suddenly, cybersecurity doesn’t sound expensive. It sounds like a bargain.
Step 3: Show What Competitors Are Spending
Nobody wants to be the weakest link in the industry.
Example:
Company A spends 10% of its IT budget on cybersecurity.
Company B spends 4%.
Company B gets hacked and loses $20M.
Now, tell your board:
“Our competitors are investing in security. If we don’t, we become the easiest target.”
Executives don’t just think about risk - they think about staying competitive.
Step 4: Give Them a Business Case, Not a Shopping List
Most cybersecurity budget requests look like this:
$500K for penetration testing
$750K for a SIEM upgrade
$1M for endpoint protection
That’s a shopping list, not a business case.
Here’s how to fix it:
Group your requests into strategic outcomes:
Regulatory Compliance (Avoids fines, ensures legal protection)
Revenue Protection (Prevents downtime, secures customer trust)
Competitive Advantage (Makes security a selling point)
Instead of asking for $1.5M for “security tools,” say:
“This $1.5M investment protects $50M in annual revenue by reducing downtime risks and improving compliance.”
Now, it’s not just a budget request - it’s a business decision.
Step 5: Get Finance Involved Early
Here’s a secret: Your CFO isn’t your enemy. They just need the right numbers to justify spending.
Invite finance to cybersecurity discussions - before budget season.
Ask them how they calculate ROI - and frame cybersecurity the same way.
Get their input on financial impact models so your numbers match their logic.
If you make the CFO a cybersecurity ally, not an obstacle, your budget fights will get much easier.
The Bottom Line
Most executives only see cybersecurity spending as a cost. Your job is to make them see it as an investment.
Next time you ask for a budget increase, don’t talk about threats, talk about:
Risk reduction in dollars
Competitive advantage over rivals
Legal and regulatory cost avoidance
Because when cybersecurity protects revenue, reputation, and compliance, that’s a budget request nobody can ignore.