Global spending on information security and risk management technology and services is forecast to grow 12.4 per cent in 2021, to reach $150.4 billion, according to the latest forecast from Gartner, Inc.
As per the report, security and risk management spending grew 6.4 per cent in 2020.
According to Gartner analysts, the strong growth rate can be attributed to a growing demand for remote worker technologies and cloud security.
“Organizations continue to grapple with the security and regulatory demands of public cloud and software as a service,” said Lawrence Pingree, managing research vice president at Gartner.
“Looking ahead, we’re seeing early market signals of growing automation and further adoption of machine learning technologies in support of AI security. To combat attacks, organizations will extend and standardize threat detection and response activities,” he said.
Cybersecurity top priority
According to the Gartner 2021 CIO Agenda Survey, cybersecurity was the top priority for new spending, with 61 per cent of the more than 2,000 CIOs surveyed increasing investment in cyber/information security this year.
Security services including consulting, hardware support, implementation and outsourced services represent the largest category of spending in 2021, at almost $72.5 billion worldwide. The smallest but fastest- growing market segment is cloud security, particularly cloud access security brokers (CASB). Cloud security spending forecasted to witness the highest growth of 41.2 per cent to $841 million in 2021.
“The pace of client inquiry indicates that CASB is a popular choice for cloud-using organizations,” said Pingree.
“This is due to the growing popularity of using non-PC devices for interacting with core business processes, which creates security risks that can be mitigated effectively with a CASB. CASBs also enable safer interaction between SaaS applications and unmanaged devices,” he said.
Integrated risk management (IRM) technology is also witnessing robust double-digit growth resulting from risks highlighted during the global pandemic crisis, growing 12.6 per cent in 2021.
“Areas of significant risk driving near-term demand include the advent of new digital products and services and the related health and safety uses, as well as third-party risks such as customer data breaches or supply chain attacks,” said John Wheeler, senior research director at Gartner.