Data Privacy Teams Face Staffing Shortages and Budget Constraints, ISACA Warns

ISACA’s State of Privacy 2026 report, based on a survey of over 1,800 privacy and data protection professionals (Sept 2025), finds privacy teams increasingly understaffed and underfunded, with rising stress levels driven by rapid tech evolution, compliance pressures, and resource constraints. Many anticipate budget decreases, and significant obstacles persist, notably managing risks from new technologies (52%). Key failures include poor training (51%) and not practicing privacy by design (50%), even as 38% plan to use AI for privacy tasks. The findings suggest a correlation between limited resources and elevated stress across privacy roles.