The 2026 CISO Report from Cybercrime Magazine in partnership with Sophos looks at how security Chiefs are faring in one of the most stressful tech jobs.
“For a while now, the industry data has told us that the average tenure for a CISO is less than any other [C-suite] member,” according to Joe Levy, CEO at Sophos. CSO names frustration, stress, and increased liability as a few of the off-putting realities giving CISOs cold feet.
More CISOs are dissatisfied with the role today than ever before, with studies indicating that 75 percent of security chiefs are interested in a job change.
Surveys show that 99 percent of CISOs work extra hours every week, and 1 in 5 work an extra 25 hours per week, according to Help Net Security. ComputerWeekly reports that almost one-third of CISOs say stress is adversely affecting their performance. Dark Reading reports that average CISO tenure now hovers between 18 months and 26 months, according to multiple industry estimates, and the result is not just executive churn, but instability that ripples through security programs, teams, and risk posture.
It doesn’t help that in several incidents over the past couple of years, CISOs have been held legally and personally responsible for the handling and reporting of breaches. A survey by Heidrick & Struggles found that nearly half of surveyed CISOs did not have an adequate internal successor in place.
Read the Report
