Cybersecurity teams across Asia Pacific and Japan are fighting a two-front battle: an intensifying threat landscape on one side and rising internal fatigue on the other. A new regional study shows that despite bigger budgets and more advanced tools, the human toll of defending businesses online is getting worse.
The research, conducted across 926 organizations in six countries, paints a picture of highly stressed security teams where burnout is now both a workforce and a business problem.
The Hidden Cost of Burnout
Eighty-six percent of companies admit that burnout is affecting their security operations. Almost a third of professionals say they experience it frequently—up from last year. The number one cause? Not bureaucracy, not budgets—but the simple fact that threat activity has escalated.
The fallout is measurable. Companies are losing an average of 4.6 work hours per employee every week to fatigue. That’s time not spent hunting threats or tightening defenses. More alarmingly, 95% of businesses admit burnout has degraded their overall cyber posture: slower incident response times, weaker resiliency, and in some cases, outright breaches.
The response has been predictable—hiring more staff, buying more tools, or leaning on third-party partners. But the skills shortage means recruitment is expensive and slow.
AI: A Double-Edged Sword
If there’s a bright spot, it’s AI-augmented security. Over half of companies say AI tools are easing stress by cutting false positives, escalating incidents more accurately, and speeding up triage. For stretched teams, this makes the difference between catching an attack early and scrambling to contain it.
But AI also brings a new problem: shadow usage. Eighty-five percent of organizations already use AI in business functions, but nearly half admit employees are turning to unapproved AI tools. Even companies with policies in place struggle—54% have still run into issues.
This creates a visibility gap: leaders don’t know which tools are being used, what data is exposed, or who is using them. The result is misconfigurations, vulnerabilities inside AI tools, and another layer of risk that CISOs are calling “shadow IT 2.0.”
Budgets, Regulation, and Strategy
Money is flowing into cybersecurity. Eighty-five percent of companies plan to increase their budgets, with nearly a quarter raising them by double digits. CIOs and CISOs continue to drive these decisions, reflecting how central cybersecurity has become to business strategy.
At the same time, regulations are piling up. While they add complexity and cost, more than half of organizations admit that compliance actually improves resiliency. Regulatory frameworks, once seen as red tape, are now viewed as a playbook for building stronger defenses.
The Bigger Picture
The study makes one thing clear: the cybersecurity industry in Asia Pacific isn’t struggling because of a lack of money or tools. It’s the people—burned out, overextended, and pulled between escalating threats and growing internal expectations. AI may help reduce the load, but unmanaged adoption risks widening the attack surface further.
The message for business leaders is simple: cybersecurity can’t just be treated as a budget line. It’s a workforce issue, a culture issue, and increasingly, a governance issue as AI blurs the line between productivity and risk. The companies that get ahead will be the ones who balance investment in tools with investment in people.
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