News highlights
- 94% of organizations surveyed globally report cybersecurity skills gaps, 68% cite gaps related to AI risks globally and this number goes up in India with 81% and 80% in advanced identity and phishing threats.
- 80% say security teams in India are under pressure and struggling to scale to meet evolving business needs.
- 66% and 56% in India and globally report a reduction in security head count linked to AI, split evenly between entry-level and more senior roles.
INDIA, October 23rd, 2026 – Barracuda Networks, Inc., the cyber resilience platform leader making security easy for all size business, has released the Cybersecurity Skills Gap Report showing how AI, identity-based attacks, and expanding digital operations are putting pressure on cybersecurity teams. Almost all respondents (94%) report cybersecurity skills gaps, with the most common challenges linked to AI-related risks (81% Indian and 68% global) and advanced identity and phishing threats (80% Indian and 67% global), including business email compromise, OAuth abuse, and multifactor authentication bypass.
The report from Barracuda Research is based on the findings of an international survey of 2,000 IT and security decision-makers. It also reveals that security teams are struggling to keep pace with expanding responsibilities. Half say their security professionals are expected to support growing digital operations without additional resources. Further, 40% say business expectations exceed the team’s cybersecurity skills and tooling, while 35% say expectations exceed staffing capacity. As a result, 80% of Indian and 67% global respondents say their teams are struggling to scale to meet expanding and evolving business needs, and nearly a third (32%) globally say they can protect the business only reactively rather than proactively.
“The findings show how the impact of AI is changing the cybersecurity landscape faster than many security teams can build the necessary skills, visibility, and governance,” said Siroui Mushegian, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer, Barracuda. “Organizations need to reshape their security teams, combining the power of AI and automation with human expertise, judgement, and visibility. We must nurture these critical skills in the next generation of cybersecurity professionals, building new development pathways and opportunities for hands-on experience.”
AI is Changing Roles, But Not Removing the Need for People
Majority organizations in India (88%) report that AI is already affecting security roles or head count. About two-thirds (66%) have experienced professional workforce reductions linked to AI, divided evenly between entry-level and more senior positions.
At the same time, organizations continue to rely on human expertise for critical decisions. Almost two-thirds (62%) use a shared decision-making model in incident response, where AI supports investigation and analysis while people retain responsibility for context, judgement, and final decisions.
Reshaping Cybersecurity Careers
As organizations implement consolidated security tools and AI takes on more routine analysis and response activities, human roles are shifting toward threat investigation, incident leadership, automation governance, and business risk management.
More than two-thirds (71%) of Indian organizations surveyed say they need additional skills and expertise in incident response, decision making under pressure, and risk. These skill shortages could deepen if organizations automating the work of entry-level roles fail to build clear development pathways for new cybersecurity professionals.
The definition of a senior security professional is broadening as well. Technical expertise remains essential, but it increasingly needs to be combined with AI literacy, identity security knowledge, governance awareness, and strong communication skills as cybersecurity becomes a board-level business issue. Seven in ten (73%) reported skills needs in strategic security leadership, including AI governance and translating technical risk into business impact.
Methodology
Barracuda commissioned independent research agency Arlington Research to survey 2,000 mid- to senior-level IT and security decision-makers in organizations with 100 to 2,000 employees. Respondents represented a broad range of industries in the United States, United Kingdom, France, DACH (Germany, Austria, and Switzerland), Benelux (Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg), the Nordics (Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden), Australia, India, and Japan. The research examined security skills and capability challenges experienced over the previous 12 months.
