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Why Companies Are Spending More on Cyber but Still Struggling

October 22, 2026

Video Transcript

JD Durkin: Lou Rabon, founder and CEO of Cyber Defense Group. I’ve been looking forward to our interview all day long. A lot of people undoubtedly have seen these headlines, the backdrop of this vulnerability storyline. Really grateful for your time today. You have a new report out. It shows companies are taking cybersecurity more seriously than ever before. Why are so many still struggling once an attack actually happens, Lou?

Lou Rabon: Yeah, well, you know, JD, budgets are increasing, but capabilities are not, and there’s an execution gap there. You know, confidence isn’t evidence. In this report, we found that 92% of business leaders have expressed some confidence that they can meet compliance requirements, but nearly half have experienced a breach. What that is saying is executives are putting dollars into security programs, but it doesn’t mean that they’re actually validating how that money is being spent. So spending is not equal to efficacy.

JD Durkin: And also, according to your report, only 37% of respondents say they are very confident they could preserve critical evidence within 24 hours of an attack. Why is that so important, and what happens if they can’t?

Lou Rabon: Well, you know, the instinct in a crisis is to just get things back up and running. And that’s the danger, because you want to do that, but you also have to preserve evidence. It’s like trampling over a crime scene before anyone photographs it. So the evidence is important because it tells you what happened, and you can better prepare for it. But it also will be what’s necessary for regulators, especially in the financial industry and many other industries, for them to actually be able to say, hey, this is what we know happened, and this is how we fixed it. So it’s really important. It’s not only important to be able to respond, but it’s also important to have a process for preserving evidence.

JD Durkin: How can companies better prepare themselves for these worst-case scenarios? What are things they should be taking into consideration now that maybe they’re not currently doing?

Lou Rabon: Yeah, definitely. Tabletops. Prepping for an incident response tabletop, a business continuity tabletop. We know we’re going to get hit in the, you know, AI world that we’re living in today. PHP, you mentioned it. That’s one of the big things that happened yesterday. It’s on everyone’s mind. It was an older vulnerability, but now, you know, it’s affected a huge percentage of websites on the internet. So if you have a vulnerability management program, if you have an incident response program, and you’re testing it regularly, that’s what’s necessary to make sure that you can contain and respond to these attacks, because it’s no longer a matter of if, but when.

JD Durkin: Yeah, it’s an incredible storyline, and it’s been all over my social media feed in the last day or so, so I appreciate the context, Lou. I’ve got less than a minute left. The single most important thing a CEO should be asking their team to prove, whether they’re ready or not for an attack?

Lou Rabon: Yeah, make them demonstrate. Don’t just describe. I think this is the problem with a lot of C-suites and boards. They’re saying, okay, we spend a lot of money. We’ve got the right people in place. So we’re good. But they’re just taking their word for it. They really have to have a demonstration. So run an exercise with the executive team, not just the IT team. Find out who has the authority to act. Can we contain it and still preserve evidence? And at the end of the day, you know, really just test it out and validate.

JD Durkin: Lou Rabon, founder and CEO of Cyber Defense Group. Lou, [unclear: “amount of time”]. Come back and see us again soon.

Lou Rabon: Thanks, JD. Great to be here.

Companies are spending more on cybersecurity than ever, but many are still struggling to respond when an attack actually happens. JD Durkin speaks with Lou Rabon, founder and CEO of Cyber Defense Group, about the company’s new report on cyber readiness, the importance of preserving evidence after an attack, and what executives should demand from their security teams.

Rabon says budgets are increasing but capabilities are not, describing an execution gap in which confidence is not evidence. According to the report, 92% of business leaders expressed some confidence they can meet compliance requirements, yet nearly half have experienced a breach, which he says shows executives are funding security programs without validating how that money is spent. With only 37% of respondents very confident they could preserve critical evidence within 24 hours of an attack, he warns that rushing to restore systems can be like trampling a crime scene before anyone photographs it, noting that evidence is essential both for understanding what happened and for reporting to regulators.

Rabon recommends that companies run regular incident response and business continuity tabletop exercises and maintain tested vulnerability management and incident response programs, pointing to the recent PHP vulnerability as an older flaw that has affected a large share of websites. He says attacks are no longer a matter of if but when, and that CEOs should require their teams to demonstrate readiness rather than describe it, running exercises with the executive team to determine who has authority to act and whether the company can contain an attack while preserving evidence.

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