LinkedIn Outreach Benchmarks for Cybersecurity (2026)

Key Takeaways

In computer and network security, the average LinkedIn connection acceptance rate is 26.0%. Replies to the connection note average 1.9%, and replies to a message after the connection is accepted average 10.7%. Those numbers come from 107,864 connection requests sent by 140 computer and network security accounts between May 2025 and April 2026. Against the cross-industry averages of 28.5%, 3.0% and 10.4%, computer and network security is above on message replies and below on acceptance and note replies.

Cybersecurity vs. the platform average

Metric	Computer & Network Security	All industries	Difference	Rank
Connection acceptance	26.0%	28.5%	-2.5 pts	33rd of 38
Connection-note reply	1.9%	3.0%	-1.1 pts	36th of 38
Message reply after acceptance	10.7%	10.4%	+0.3 pts	19th of 38

Across the 38 industries with at least 50 sending accounts, acceptance runs from 21.8% (telecommunications) to 36.5% (staffing & recruiting). Note replies run from 1.8% to 6.6%, and message replies from 7.2% to 18.9%.

What the numbers say about security outreach

Cybersecurity professionals ignore connection notes more frequently than almost any audience in the dataset. Note replies of 1.9% rank 36th of 38, well under the 3.0% cross-industry average, and acceptance of 26.0% ranks 33rd. For a sector whose job is treating unsolicited contact as suspect, it isn’t all that surprising.

Message replies of 10.7% rank 19th, above the 10.4% platform average. Once a cybersecurity professional has accepted, they respond at a better than average rate. The screening happens entirely before the connection, and it is severe.

Across 140 accounts and 107,864 requests, this makes the sector unusual in a specific way: the note is worth less here than in any other large sample, and the conversation is worth slightly more than average. End to end it converts at about 2.8 per 100 recipients against a cross-industry 3.0, so the sector is close to normal overall while being far from normal in its shape.

If your numbers sit below these

The dataset says where an account sits, not why. From what we see in campaigns, three gaps come up most often in this sector, and they point at different problems.

Note replies under 1.9%. The sector floor is already 36th of 38. If notes are producing nothing, that is the sector behaving normally rather than a copy failure, and effort is better spent elsewhere.

Acceptance under 26.0%. This is the measure that decides everything in security outreach, because the sector screens hard at the door and converses well behind it. A number below the sector line is the single most costly gap on this page.

Message replies under 10.7%. The one measure where security outperforms. A shortfall here means losing the sector’s only advantage, and it usually means the first message reads like the note did rather than like a conversation with somebody who already said yes.

Further reading:

• Improving your LinkedIn Sales Navigator targeting
• How many LinkedIn invites can you send a week?
• Personalising a LinkedIn message request without tripping limits
• The LinkedIn message follow-up formula
• Tips for building a LinkedIn content strategy for B2B sales
• The best AI lead generation software to add to your stack

Frequently asked questions

What is a good LinkedIn acceptance rate in cybersecurity?

26.0% is the sector average, 2.5 points below the 28.5% cross-industry figure and 33rd of 38 reported industries. Above 28% is doing better than the sector and matching the platform.

Do security professionals reply to LinkedIn connection notes?

Rarely. Computer and network security averages 1.9% note replies, 36th of 38 reported industries, against a cross-industry average of 3.0%. Message replies after acceptance run at 10.7%, above the platform average, so the screening happens at the connection request rather than afterwards.

How does cybersecurity compare with other industries?

Acceptance ranks 33rd of 38 and note replies 36th, while message replies rank 19th. End to end it converts at about 2.8 per 100 recipients against roughly 3.0 across all industries.

How this data was collected

Computer & Network Security is reported from 140 accounts and 107,864 connection requests sent between May 2025 and April 2026, drawn from the LinkedIn Outreach Benchmarks 2026 dataset of 13.2 million requests across 13,302 accounts. That report carries the full methodology, along with the breakdowns by sender seniority, company size and month that are not repeated here.

Two things to hold in mind while reading any of these figures. The industry is the sender’s, taken from their company profile, not the recipient’s. And only industries with at least 50 sending accounts are reported at all: below that, a single unusual account moves the average by several points, which is why some of the most extreme numbers in the full appendix are not published here.

Related industry benchmarks

• Financial Services, 26.0% acceptance and 10.3% message replies
• Construction, 26.9% acceptance and 11.4% message replies
• Health, Wellness & Fitness, 25.1% acceptance and 9.9% message replies
• All industry benchmarks

Grade your own outreach against these numbers

Enter your own acceptance and reply rates and grade your outreach against the computer and network security benchmark, plus see where you sit among all 38 reported industries. No signup.

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Data updated 19 August 2026. Refreshed quarterly against the source report.