Worldwide spending on information security and risk management technology and services is forecast to grow 12.4% in 2021, to reach $150.4 Billion, according to the latest forecast from Gartner, Security and risk management spending grew 6.4% in 2020.
Gartner analysts said the strong growth rate reflects continuing demand for remote worker technologies and cloud security. In the Gartner 2021 CIO Agenda Survey, cybersecurity was the top priority for new spending, with 61% 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
Information Security & Risk Management End User Spending by Segment, 2020-2021 (Millions of $)
| Market Segment
|
2020 | 2021 | Growth (%) |
| Application Security | 3,333 | 3,738 | 12.2 |
| Cloud Security | 595 | 841 | 41.2 |
| Data Security | 2,981 | 3,505 | 17.5 |
| Identity Access Management | 12,036 | 13,917 | 15.6 |
| Infrastructure Protection | 20,462 | 23,903 | 16.8 |
| Integrated Risk Management | 4,859 | 5,473 | 12.6 |
| Network Security Equipment | 15,626 | 17,020 | 8.9 |
| Other Information Security Software | 2,306 | 2,527 | 9.6 |
| Security Services | 65,070 | 72,497 | 11.4 |
| Consumer Security Software | 6,507 | 6,990 | 7.4 |
| Total | 133,776 | 150,409 | 12.4 |
Source: Gartner (May 2021)
The smallest but fastest growing market segment is cloud security, particularly cloud access security brokers, CASB. Integrated risk management (IRM) technology is also seeing robust double-digit growth resulting from risks highlighted during the global pandemic crisis.
“Organisations 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 are seeing early market signals of growing automation and further adoption of machine learning technologies in support of AI security. To combat attacks, organisations will extend and standardise threat detection and response activities.”
“The pace of client inquiry indicates that CASB is a popular choice for cloud-using organisations,” 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.”
