Cybersec is a thankless job: expanding workload and shrinking pay packet
Global recruitment giant says 71% of human firewalls saw wages stagnate last year as threats and responsibilities grew
Cybersecurity professionals were the most overlooked workers in IT when it came to pay rises in 2025, according to new figures from recruiter Harvey Nash.
The trend was especially stark in the UK, where 77 percent of all security staff saw no salary increase, although the pattern was observed globally too with 71 percent of infoseccers experiencing wage stagnation.
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For context, 45 percent of all tech workers received pay rises across the 53 countries surveyed, and even DevOps - the most generously rewarded discipline - only reached 56 percent. More than half of those working in adjacent disciplines, including infrastructure, AI/ML, and product management, received wage increases.
The pay squeeze is taking a toll: security professionals now rank in the bottom three for overall workplace satisfaction alongside QA testers and infrastructure bods - despite cybersecurity being in the top-three most in-demand positions across the tech industry.