Global Spending on Data Security to Reach $82 Billion in 2017

By Paul Ausick Updated Jan 12, 1:30PM EST · Published Mar 29, 12:20PM EDT

Follow 24/7 Wall St. on Google

This post may contain links from our sponsors and affiliates, and Flywheel Publishing may receive compensation for actions taken through them.

Global Spending on Data Security to Reach $82 Billion in 2017 — © Thinkstock

[cnxvideo id=”509736″ placement=”ros”]Worldwide spending on security-related hardware, software and services is forecast to reach $81.7 billion in 2017, on its way to $105 billion by 2020. That’s a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.7%, compared with a 2016 CAGR of 8.2%.

Three industries will account for nearly a third of spending on data security and two industries will see double-digit growth over the period.

The data were reported Wednesday by International Data Corp. (IDC). Program director Eileen Smith said:

The rapid growth of digital transformation is putting pressures on companies across all industries to proactively invest in security to protect themselves against known and unknown threats. On a global basis, the banking, discrete manufacturing, and federal/central government industries will spend the most on security hardware, software, and services throughout the 2015-2020 forecast. Combined, these three industries will deliver more than 30% of the worldwide total in 2017.

[nativounit]

The industries forecast to grow spending the most are telecommunications (11.2%), state/local government (10.2%), health care (9.8%), utilities (9.7%) and banking (9.5%).

Spending on managed security services, integration services and consulting will account for $31.2 billion (38%) of the 2017 total. Network security (hardware and software combined) will be the largest category of security-related spending in 2017 at $15.2 billion, while endpoint security software will be the third largest category at $10.2 billion.

The technology categories that will see the fastest spending growth over the forecast period are device vulnerability assessment software (16.0% CAGR), software vulnerability assessment (14.5% CAGR), managed security services (12.2% CAGR), user behavioral analytics (12.2% CAGR) and UTM hardware (11.9% CAGR).

The largest market for security spending in 2017 will be the United States ($36.9 billion), followed by Western Europe ($19.2 billion) and Asia/Pacific excluding Japan. Large and very large businesses (more than 500 employees) will account for about two-thirds of all security-related spending for the forecast period. Very large businesses (more than 1,000 employees) are expected to pass the $50 billion spending mark on security-related purchases in 2019.

[wallst_email_signup]

About the Author Paul Ausick →

Paul Ausick has been writing for a673b.bigscoots-temp.com for more than a decade. He has written extensively on investing in the energy, defense, and technology sectors. In a previous life, he wrote technical documentation and managed a marketing communications group in Silicon Valley.

He has a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Chicago and now lives in Montana, where he fishes for trout in the summer and stays inside during the winter.