Companies in Central and Eastern Europe continue to invest in cybersecurity but lag behind the global average in governance and resilience, according to the 2027 edition of PwC’s Global Digital Trust Insights survey. Only 24% of leaders in the region strongly agree that cyber risk is a standing item on their board’s agenda, compared with 47% globally.
Three-quarters of companies in the region (74%) will increase their cybersecurity budgets in 2027, compared with 84% globally. As elsewhere in the world, artificial intelligence is the top priority when companies allocate these budgets. Worryingly, 11% of companies in the region expect budget cuts, compared with just 4% globally.
“Companies in the region are investing in cybersecurity, but the gap with the global average emerges at the leadership level. When cyber risk rarely makes it onto the board’s agenda, investments tend to be reactive, and business continuity plans remain incomplete. Cybersecurity must be treated as a business capability, embedded in strategic decision-making, particularly now, as AI adoption accelerates,” said Robert Gîrdoc, Director, PwC Romania.
Operational resilience continues to lag
The gaps are also evident in incident preparedness: only 22% of companies in the region have fully formalised business continuity plans that explicitly address cyber risks, compared with 39% globally. Most are still developing these plans or rely on informal measures. Companies in the region also fall below the global average on all seven data risk management measures examined in the survey, from data classification to controls throughout the data lifecycle.
“The geopolitical environment is accelerating change and has a greater influence on cybersecurity investment decisions in the region than it does globally. The main areas in which companies in the region are adjusting their strategies are cyber insurance, incident response and crisis management planning. At the same time, modernising cybersecurity infrastructure is the leading factor shaping budgets in the region, whereas data protection ranks first globally,” Robert Gîrdoc noted.
Balancing priority and caution around AI
As is the case globally, attacks targeting artificial intelligence systems are the threat that companies in the region feel least prepared to address. However, confidence in AI as a
defensive tool remains low. Only 11% of leaders in the region would authorise AI agents to act fully autonomously, without human approval—half the global average of 22%. The preferred approach is for agents to recommend actions, with a human approving each step.
The main barriers are the reliability of the technology and a lack of AI oversight and governance skills, with the latter cited by 46% of respondents—a higher proportion than globally. Unsurprisingly, investing in AI-powered tools and training the people who use them is the region’s leading strategy for developing and retaining cybersecurity professionals.
“Artificial intelligence is changing both sides of cybersecurity. Attackers are already using it to move faster than defence teams, and companies need to match that speed. Caution around autonomous AI agents is understandable, but delaying adoption is not the answer. We need people trained to oversee these systems, clear governance rules and continuous testing so that AI can become an ally in cyber defence,” Robert Gîrdoc explained.
The survey gathered responses from 3,934 business and technology executives across 71 countries and territories, including 156 from Central and Eastern Europe.
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