Market research firm Gartner predicted that worldwide spending on information security products and services will hit $86.4 billion in 2017, up 7 percent from the previous year. In a recent statement, the research firm also said it expects to see 2018 spending in this sector grow, hitting $93 billion next year.

Spike in Information Security Product Spending Worldwide

The security testing market, especially, will have fast growth, with increasing demand for infrastructure security products. Additionally, application security testing tools for interactive application security testing (IAST) will contribute to the growth through 2021.

Gartner also suggested that security services as a whole will remain the fastest-growing segment of this market. Specifically, IT outsourcing, consulting and implementation services will emerge as areas of significant growth. This is likely due to rising awareness among business leaders about cybersecurity issues as well as an increase in data breaches.

Slower Growth Areas

Gartner expected spending in other areas to decrease, which will affect a shift in support. Hardware support services, for example, will see growth slowing, largely because of the adoption of virtual appliances, public cloud and software-as-a-service (SaaS) editions of security solutions.

With spending slowing in more basic areas, Sid Deshpande, one of Gartner’s analysts contributing to the statement, warned security experts against negligence. “Improving security is not just about spending on new technologies,” he said. “As seen in the recent spate of global security incidents, doing the basics right has never been more important.”

In other words, a checkbook open only to new technologies will not solve all security problems.

Security Trend Predictions

Gartner also predicted that by 2020, 40 percent of all managed security service (MSS) contracts will be bundled with other security services and broader IT outsourcing projects, up from 20 percent today. Many companies are daunted by the sheer complexities of establishing these new security systems and will look to pay others to do it for them.

The company also indicated that the European Union (EU)’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will drive 65 percent of data loss prevention buying decisions through 2018. Organizations are largely ill-prepared for the imminent implementation of these GDPR regulations and will need to upgrade their systems.

Analysts are seeing an overall increase in spending by organizations seeking to improve their security posture, and agree that it will have greater impact over the next few years.