Worldwide spending on information security will reach $71.1 billion in 2014, an increase of 7.9% over 2013, with the data loss prevention segment recording the fastest growth at 18.9%, according to the latest forecast from Gartner. Total information security spending will grow a further 8.2% in 2015 to reach $76.9 billion.
According to Gartner, the increasing adoption of mobile, cloud, social and information (often interacting together) will drive use of new security technology and services through 2016.
“This Nexus of Forces is impacting security in terms of new vulnerabilities,” said Gartner research director Lawrence Pingree. “It is also creating new opportunities to improve effectiveness, particularly as a result of better understanding security threats by using contextual information and other security intelligence.”
Pingree said that the bigger trend that emerged in 2013 was the democratization of security threats, driven by the easy availability of malicious software (malware) and infrastructure (via the underground economy) that can be used to launch advanced targeted attacks.
“This has led to increased awareness among organizations that would have traditionally treated security as an IT function and a cost center,” said Pingree.
Other trends in the information security market that form assumptions behind Gartner’s latest forecast include: