Cybersecurity is a reasonable field to explore in the AI era, but it is not a lifeboat in the sense of a guaranteed job. The strongest evidence is U.S. government projections of growth for information security analysts. Workforce survey data shows that AI is changing which skills practitioners need, while budget and staffing pressures continue. Whether the field works for you depends on which role you target, where you live, and what you can learn and practice.
The job projections are favorable, but they describe occupations, not individuals
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) publishes two projection series for information security analysts that are often quoted side by side. They cover different periods and should not be merged.
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| Source | Projection period | Projected growth | Jobs or openings | Median annual wage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BLS overview of AI, information technology, and employment projections (published 2026) | 2024–2034 | 28.5% | 52,100 projected additional jobs | Not stated in this source |
| BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, information security analysts (page reviewed in 2026) | 2025–2035 | 21% | About 14,100 annual openings, including replacement needs | $129,180 (May 2025) |
BLS states that the use of information technology, including AI, will raise demand in some occupations while others may decline. It names cyberattacks and data breaches among the expected drivers of demand for security work. The 2024–2034 figure measures occupational growth in the United States. It does not show that AI creates every additional role, and it says nothing about whether any particular person will be hired. Annual openings combine new positions with replacements for people who leave, so the 14,100 figure should not be read as new jobs.
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What practitioners say AI is changing
ISC2’s 2025 Cybersecurity Workforce Study surveyed cybersecurity professionals across multiple regions. Its respondents reported heavy skills pressure: 59% described their skills needs as critical or significant, and 95% reported at least one skills need. These are perceived needs as reported by survey participants, not counts of open positions.
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AI was the leading skills need named in the survey. The top needs were:
| Skills need (ISC2 2025, percent of respondents) | Share |
|---|---|
| Artificial intelligence | 41% |
| Cloud security | 36% |
| Risk assessment | 29% |
| Application security | 28% |
| Security engineering, governance, risk, and compliance | 27% |
Expectations about AI and the skills people are building
Most respondents expect AI to change the work rather than remove it. In the 2025 survey, 73% said AI would create more demand for specialized cybersecurity skills, and 72% said it would create a need for more strategic cybersecurity mindsets. Respondents were also building capability in specific areas: 48% were working to build generalized AI knowledge, 35% were learning about the risks of AI solutions, and 22% were learning how to audit the security and integrity of AI systems. These are expectations and self-reported learning activity, not a measured count of new jobs.
How the 2024 survey fits in
ISC2’s 2024 workforce study is useful only as dated context. It reported that 66% of participants saw AI as a career-growth opportunity, 54% expected it to help their organizations’ security operations, 67% reported a staffing shortage, and 90% saw skills gaps on their cybersecurity teams. Because the 2024 and 2025 surveys used different questions and methods, they should not be stitched into a single trend line.
Cybersecurity is a set of work roles, so start with a role
NIST’s NICE Framework is the most practical starting point because it breaks the field into work roles. Each role is defined by task statements, knowledge statements, and skill statements. Treating “cybersecurity” as one job leads to vague planning; comparing two or three specific roles produces a usable plan. To work through the framework:
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- Choose two or three work roles from the NICE Framework that sit near your current background, such as operations, networking, software development, or compliance.
- For each role, list its task statements and its knowledge and skill statements from NIST’s NICE Framework guidance, “Getting Started with the NICE Framework,” updated September 8, 2026.
- Mark each item as already held, partly held, or new. The new items become your learning plan.
- Check job postings in your own city or region for those roles. The national projections above do not establish local demand or the requirements an individual employer will set.
- Revisit the plan every six to twelve months, because tools, employer requirements, and the mix of tasks within each role change over time.
Entry routes vary, and certifications are signposts rather than guarantees
NIST’s cybersecurity career pathway resources describe many routes into and through the field and link to several pathway providers. Two examples it lists are CompTIA’s cybersecurity career pathway, with Security+ as its centerpiece, and SANS training road maps that connect roles with relevant skills and certifications. These are examples NIST lists. They are not mandatory credentials, and no single certification guarantees employment. A certificate is most useful when it confirms skills you can demonstrate through labs, projects, or work tasks.
Comparing cybersecurity with other career options
If you are weighing cybersecurity against another field, compare the following rather than headline growth percentages alone:
- Role and daily tasks: what you would actually do each day in a specific role, such as monitoring alerts, assessing risk, or reviewing application code.
- Location and local demand: the openings and salary levels in your own labor market, which U.S. national projections do not measure.
- Skills and experience required: the gap between your current profile and the role’s knowledge and skill statements.
- Learning cost and time: tuition, exam fees, and the hours needed to build practical proficiency.
- Exposure to economic cycles: ISC2’s 2025 respondents described continuing economic pressures alongside their skills needs, so hiring can slow even when long-term projections are positive.
What the evidence does not settle
- The projections cover the United States. They do not establish global demand or demand in a specific region.
- The survey data is self-reported by professionals who chose to respond. It describes perceptions and planned learning, not measured changes in job tasks.
- The sources do not measure how quickly AI will change the task mix within each cybersecurity role, so the pace of change remains uncertain.
- Current tuition, exam, and training costs for specific programs are not established here and should be checked with each provider.
On the evidence available, cybersecurity merits serious consideration as a career path, provided it is approached role by role. It is not AI-proof or recession-proof, and the evidence does not support describing it as a guaranteed refuge.
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