Report: Enterprise Security Spending To Increase in 2018 -- Redmondmag.com

Report: Enterprise Security Spending To Increase in 2018

By Chris Paoli
12/08/2017

In the wake of major high-profile incidence in 2017, worldwide enterprise spending on security is poised to rise 8 percent next year, according to Gartner, Inc.

In the research firm's latest report, titled "Forecast: Information Security, Worldwide, 2015-2021, 3Q17 Update," Gartner found that security spending for 2018 looks to total $96.3 billion.

"Overall, a large portion of security spending is driven by an organization's reaction toward security breaches as more high profile cyberattacks and data breaches affect organizations worldwide," said Ruggero Contu, research director at Gartner. "Cyberattacks such as WannaCry and NotPetya, and most recently the Equifax breach, have a direct effect on security spend, because these types of attacks last up to three years."

Among the 512 respondents to Gartner's survey, 57 percent indicated that they would be increasing spending on security, with breaches like Equifax, being the top security concern. According to the report, budgets towards security services will be both the bulk of spending and will see the largest increase, year over year, with an estimated $57.7 billion -- up from 2017's $53.0 billion. Spending in identity access management, infrastructure protection, network security equipment and consumer security software will also be increased over the next 12 months.

The Gartner report also found that security spending increases should continue over the next few years, with more than 60 percent of enterprises investing in data loss prevention, protection and encryption tools. This will be an increase over the current 35 percent of organizations spending on multiple tools today.

Another long-term trend is the move towards security automation, thanks to both the growing security landscape and a shortage of security skills among IT. "Skill sets are scarce and therefore remain at a premium, leading organizations to seek external help from security consultants, managed security service providers and outsourcers," said Contu. "In 2018, spending on security outsourcing services will total $18.5 billion, an 11 percent increase from 2017. The IT outsourcing segment is the second-largest security spending segment after consulting."

About the Author

Chris Paoli (@ChrisPaoli5) is the associate editor for Converge360.

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