Yes—cybersecurity can still be a good career choice in 2026, but it is not a guarantee of easy entry or a job in every specialty. In the United States, the Bureau of Labor Statistics projects information security analyst employment to grow 21% from 2025 to 2035. At the same time, AI is changing routine work and may be reducing some entry-level tasks. The practical outlook depends on the role, local market, experience and whether you are willing to build strong security fundamentals alongside AI-related skills.
What the job outlook says—and what it does not
The clearest current government forecast is for one U.S. occupation: information security analysts. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projects 21% employment growth between 2025 and 2035, with about 14,100 openings per year on average. Those are occupational projections, not a count of guaranteed vacancies, and they should not be treated as a forecast for every cybersecurity specialty or country. BLS: Information Security Analysts
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BLS reports a median annual wage of $129,180 for U.S. information security analysts in May 2025. A median is the midpoint across workers in that occupation, not an entry-level salary estimate. BLS says a bachelor’s degree in a computer science field and related work experience are typical; some employers may prefer certification. Requirements vary by employer and role.
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For other paths—including security engineering, governance, risk and compliance (GRC), penetration testing, security operations, privacy, product security and AI security—the analyst forecast is not a reliable substitute for local job-market research. Hiring prospects also depend on location, seniority, employer budgets, qualifications and working conditions.
How AI is changing cybersecurity work
AI can accelerate repetitive activities such as alert triage and report generation, but it does not remove the need to judge whether an output is accurate, relevant or safe to act on. In an ISC2 survey of 856 cybersecurity professionals who use AI in their roles, conducted in May 2026, 65% said they spent more time deciding whether to trust or act on AI-generated recommendations, and 63% said they spent more time reviewing or validating AI output. These are respondents’ reported experiences, not controlled measurements of work time. ISC2: Rethinking AI’s Impact on Cybersecurity Roles
AI tools are already part of many organizations’ security workflows. In ISC2’s 2025 study of 16,029 cybersecurity practitioners and decision-makers, 69% said their organization had integrated AI tools, was actively testing them or was in early evaluation. Among current AI-security-tool users, 63% reported a significant productivity boost; that is a respondent assessment, not a controlled productivity result. ISC2: 2025 Cybersecurity Workforce Study
That same 2025 survey found that 73% of respondents expected AI to create more specialized cybersecurity skills and 72% expected a greater need for strategic cybersecurity mindsets. These are expectations, not confirmed job counts. BLS likewise cautions that AI’s occupational effects are uncertain because it changes tasks in ways that can affect employment differently. BLS: AI impacts in employment projections
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There is a real pressure point, but the available evidence does not support a simple yes-or-no answer. In the May 2026 ISC2 survey, 56% of AI-using cybersecurity professionals said AI had somewhat or significantly reduced the need for entry-level positions over the previous year. Yet 53% believed AI was creating new types of entry-level roles. These results describe perceptions among surveyed professionals, not actual vacancy counts or proof that new roles offset fewer openings.
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The survey also found that 19% saw little or no effect on entry-level need, 12% said need had increased and 13% were unsure. Taken together, the findings suggest that some employers may automate or compress routine junior tasks while creating different work around AI-enabled security. They do not show that every employer is doing so, or that a new entrant can count on a particular role appearing.
Which skills are likely to remain useful?
AI does not make foundational cybersecurity knowledge obsolete. In the same 2026 ISC2 survey, 62% did not believe AI had reduced the need for foundational cybersecurity skills, while 26% believed it had. NIST’s NICE Framework team is developing an AI Security Competency Area and considering AI-related task, knowledge and skill statements for relevant work roles. NIST says: “The cybersecurity workforce will need to be prepared to secure AI against cyberattacks and to mitigate potential cyberthreats presented by AI, including where it is used with malicious intent.” NIST: The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on the Cybersecurity Workforce
A durable preparation plan is to learn the security fundamentals first, then add practical experience and skills suited to a target role. Depending on that role, useful foundations may include operating systems, networking, identity and access control, secure configuration, incident handling and risk assessment. AI security adds a developing layer of work; it is not a replacement for understanding the systems and threats those tools are meant to address.
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How to decide whether the career fits you
Rather than asking whether cybersecurity as a whole is “safe from AI,” assess the actual path you might pursue. Look at local job postings and speak with people doing the work, then compare the role’s requirements with your interests, current skills and constraints.
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- Role and seniority: Identify a specific job family and level. An analyst projection does not establish the outlook for every specialty.
- Entry requirements: Check whether employers ask for a degree, related IT experience, practical projects, certifications or a combination. BLS describes typical analyst requirements, not mandatory rules for all cyber roles.
- Task mix: Consider how much the work involves repeatable processing versus investigation, engineering, communication, governance or judgment. AI may change the balance, but the sources do not rank specialties by automation risk.
- Access to experience: Consider whether you can build relevant practice through current IT work, education, internships, apprenticeships, self-study or a career change. These are routes reported by ISC2 survey respondents, not guarantees of success.
- Work conditions: Check schedule, on-call responsibilities, advancement prospects and employer resources alongside salary and demand.
The pay figure and growth forecast can help frame the opportunity, but neither answers whether a particular opening, salary or work environment will suit you.
A practical way to prepare
- Choose a target role before choosing credentials. Compare real job postings in your region and note recurring skills, experience and education requirements.
- Build the relevant foundations and practice. Develop enough technical or risk knowledge to understand what you are protecting and why. Seek hands-on experience appropriate to the role rather than relying on credentials alone.
- Add AI literacy to security judgment. Learn to check AI-generated recommendations, recognize when they are incomplete or unsafe, and understand the security risks created by AI systems as well as those they may help detect.
- Reassess against actual hiring signals. Track changes in the jobs and skills employers request. Workforce surveys can describe perceptions and trends, but local openings provide a more direct test of access in your market.
ISC2’s 2025 workforce study reported varied routes into cybersecurity, including IT work, cybersecurity education, internships or apprenticeships, certifications, self-teaching and career changes. It describes participants’ pathways; it does not establish that any one route is sufficient or most likely to succeed. ISC2: 2025 Cybersecurity Workforce Study
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