Chris Schueler, CEO at MSSP powerhouse Cyderes, says during the latest episode of CRN’s Security or Else! podcast that he’s seeing little evidence that companies are funding AI security at the necessary level: ‘That to me is the biggest, scariest thing that I’ve ever seen.’
Cyderes CEO Chris Schueler is seeing little evidence that companies are funding AI security at the necessary level, with many CISOs disclosing they are not receiving additional budget to enable secure adoption of AI and agentic technologies.
In an interview for the latest episode of Security or Else!—a new CRN video series hosted by senior editor Kyle Alspach—Schueler discussed the challenges around funding of AI security and why it may translate to massive cyber risk for many organizations.
[Related: Security Operations To See A ‘Renaissance’ In Next 24 Months: Cyderes CEO]
“In the last three months, the one question I ask every single CISO [is] what budget have you gotten to secure AI?” Schueler said during the episode. “Not one CISO—not one—has told me they’ve gotten any incremental budget to secure AI. Not one. That to me is the biggest, scariest thing that I’ve ever seen.”
At the same time, Kansas City, Mo.-based Cyderes, a major MSSP and No. 124 on CRN’s Solution Provider 500 for 2026, is using AI and agentic capabilities to handle much repetitive Security Operations Center (SOC) work, he noted.
“There’s going to be a renaissance [in] security operations over the next 24 months—an absolute renaissance,” Schueler said.
But as a broad set of businesses pour money into AI initiatives, many CISOs and other cybersecurity leaders are being asked to somehow fund the added protections that are required from existing budget allocations, he said.
The message seems to be, “take your same budget and your same controls, and either fund it because you see the risk—fund it with your existing budget—or just put blinders on and be a voice in the room to say, ‘It’s only a matter of time,’” Schueler said. “That’s going to be a problem.”
A valid concern is that it may ultimately take a major AI-related breach—perhaps involving stolen intellectual property or the theft of confidential data—to force more organizations to fund AI security at the necessary level, he said.
A more responsible approach, Schueler said, would be to allocate a portion of every major AI investment into putting in the necessary controls and guardrails around AI and agentic usage.
“That hasn’t existed yet. I haven’t seen that exist yet,” Schueler said. “It’s been all about the $100 million of investment, and all the business improvements it’s made—but not how you plan on actually securing it and keeping your most critical, most valuable thing, the IP, secure.”
Check out the video here, and please like and subscribe if you enjoyed (available on YouTube, Spotify and Apple). Security or Else! features conversations with security experts and top executives about what’s hype and what’s real—and what channel partners truly need to focus on next in security and AI.
