Global IT security spending to top $100bn by 2020

Managed security services to outpace growth of security software and hardware

Global spending on security hardware, software and services will rise by 38 per cent to total $101.6bn by 2020, according to analyst group IDC. That compares with estimated spending of $73.7bn this year.

Banking and finance will lead the spending spree, accounting for $8.6bn in investments on security products and services, followed by discrete manufacturing, the public sector and process manufacturing.

These sectors will account for 37 per cent of worldwide security spending, but the fastest growing sectors will be healthcare, telecoms, utilities and government.

Sean Pike, programme vice president, security products, at IDC attributes the expected boom in spending to the "climate of fear" surrounding cyber security.

"Today's security climate is such that enterprises fear becoming victims of the next major cyber attack or cyber extortion," said Pike. "As a result, security has become heavily scrutinised by boards of directors demanding that security budgets are used wisely and solutions operate at peak efficiency."

Furthermore, security-related services will be the largest category for investment, already accounting for 45 per cent of all security spending or $33.9bn in 2016, according to IDC, with managed security services spending totalling $13bn this year.

However, managed security is expected to be the focus of spending over the next few years, it adds, with identity and access management software, and unified threat management hardware, top of organisational spending lists.

"The pace and threat of security attacks is increasing every year, especially across compliance-driven industries like healthcare, telecom, government and financial services," said Eileen Smith, programme director, customer insights and analysis, at IDC.

"In addition to the traditional challenges of risk and regulatory compliance, digital transformation and the use of third platform technologies are putting even more pressure on organisations across all industries to develop and execute on a new generation of security measures."

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