End-user spending on security and risk management in India is forecast to total $2.6 billion in 2022, an increase of 9.4 per cent from 2021, according to Gartner, Inc. Gartner analysts discussed how security leaders in India can secure the future, manage risks and build resiliency at the Gartner Security & Risk Management Summit, taking place virtually in India on Tuesday.

“Hybrid or remote working is the new normal in 2022. Some organisations have even shifted to a virtual-first approach following the learnings from 2020,” said Prateek Bhajanka, Senior Principal Research Analyst at Gartner. “This model of working puts the spotlight on cloud, endpoint and identity security as employees become the ‘branch of one’ for an organisation,” Bhajanka added.

As per Gartner research, there is a significant shortage of skilled cybersecurity professionals. “Therefore, end-user organisations in India often engage with security service providers to meet their cybersecurity objectives,” it said.

More growth expected

As a result, spending on security services is forecast to total $1 billion in 2022, the highest among all segments. The segment is the largest in the Indian security market, growing at a pace of 4.4. per cent. Further, according to  Bhajanka, with organisations now thinking about moving network security to the cloud, and envisioning network security in the cloud, the security services market is expected to grow further.

The cloud security services market is expected to record the highest growth at 41.9 per cent in 2022. After security services, spending is highest on network security equipment and infrastructure protection, which are expected to record 9.3 per cent and 14.4 per cent growth, respectively.

Multiple high profile supply chain attacks over the past two years have “put the focus back on supply chain and the integrity risk of the applications and products that we are using from various software vendors and software publishing in the market,” said Bhajanka. A rise in ransomware attacks and geopolitical cyber threats are some of the major drivers of security spending in India.

“We are facing a situation in the current times where geopolitical tensions are also coming to the cyber domain. So geopolitical cyber threats are also an increasing factor that we’re seeing across the globe,” Bhajanka said. Cybersecurity will continue to be a top priority for Indian CIOs in 2022, as revealed in the 2022 Gartner CIO and Technology Executive Survey.

Cyber and information security

Out of the total CIOs in India  surveyed, 64 per cent said they will increase their spending on technologies related to cyber and information security in 2022, higher than the global average of 57 per cent.

“Covid-19 was a pivotal moment in the way organisations approached risk or prepared for disruptions. Now, security leaders are putting risk management at the center of their security and business strategies,” said Bhajanka. “Indian leaders responsible for security and risk management need to adopt an assume breach mindset because security incidents are inevitable in the current era,” he said.

“They should prioritise spending on building detection and response capabilities, and not just technologies. This will help them reduce time to detect and time to recover from incidents,” he added.

“In 2022, Indian security and risk management leaders will need to revisit their approach to network security with a focus on technologies such as zero trust network access (ZTNA) for context-based security. They need to envision the future of network security in the cloud,” he further said.

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