A Quarter of Security Chiefs Thought About Quitting Last Year. AI is Why.

Key points

• 26% of senior security executives considered leaving their jobs in the past 12 months, according to Splunk's 2024 CISO Report.
• 96% of chief information security officers are now responsible for governing how their companies use AI.
• 78% of security chiefs fear personal legal liability if a cyberattack hits their organisation on their watch.
• 85% of security chiefs say their biggest obstacle is that other senior leaders do not understand cybersecurity.
• 87% of security professionals say AI is significantly increasing their team's workload.

The people whose job it is to protect companies from hackers are struggling. Not because attacks are slowing down. Because the opposite is true, and a wave of artificial intelligence tools is making everything harder and faster at once.

Splunk, a data and security software company, surveyed hundreds of senior security executives and found that one in four seriously considered leaving the profession in the past year. Their 2024 report, first covered by Dark Reading, paints a picture of an industry under genuine strain.

Why are security leaders thinking about walking away?

Two pressures sit at the top of the pile. The first is personal legal risk. Nearly eight in ten security chiefs (78%) worry they could face lawsuits or regulatory penalties if their company suffers a cyberattack, even if they followed every reasonable precaution. Regulators in the United States and elsewhere have started holding individual executives personally accountable for breaches, meaning a single bad incident can follow a person's career for years.

The second pressure is AI itself. Almost every security chief surveyed (96%) has been handed responsibility for something called AI governance, which means deciding which AI tools the company can use safely and which ones introduce unacceptable risk. That job barely existed two years ago.

Michael Fanning, the top security executive at Splunk, puts it plainly. Lower-skilled criminals now have access to AI tools that dramatically amplify what they can do. At the same time, employees inside companies are adopting AI quickly, sometimes without telling anyone in the security team. That unsanctioned use is often called shadow AI, where staff quietly build or use AI tools outside official channels, creating hidden risks the security team cannot see or manage.

TJ Marlin, chief executive of AI security firm Guardrail Technologies, describes the gap bluntly. Organisations spent years worrying about criminals sneaking in through back doors. Now companies are opening the front door to AI without the tools or training to know what they are letting in.

The problem is made worse by a communication breakdown at the top. Splunk found that 85% of security chiefs identify the same core obstacle: other senior leaders simply do not understand cybersecurity well enough to make informed decisions about it. Business teams push to roll out AI as fast as possible. Security teams, who see the risks most clearly, get treated as a speed bump rather than a partner.

AI is not all bad news for security teams. Splunk's data shows 92% of security chiefs say AI lets them review more potential threats than before, and nine in ten analysts in security operations centres say AI has improved their working day.

If you are a customer, an employee, or a patient at any organisation adopting AI tools right now, the practical takeaway is simple. Be cautious about which AI-powered services you share personal information with. Ask whether your employer has a clear policy on approved AI tools. If you receive unexpected emails or messages that seem to know details about you, treat them with more suspicion than usual, because AI is making targeted scams easier to build.