Global spending on cybersecurity solutions is projected to grow 33% over the next four years to hit $134 billion by 2022, thanks to businesses’ digital transformation initiatives and increased adoption of IoT products. Of the total spend, nearly 70% will come from medium-sized companies, as cybercriminals target ‘low-hanging fruit’, according to a new study from Juniper Research.
The research firm predicts the cost of data breaches between 2017 and 2022 will reach $8 trillion, with variable per-business losses depending on the nature and scale of the attack. Shipping company Maersk, for example, estimated the cost of NotPetya infecting its global network in 2017 at between $200 and $300 million.
That said, stakeholders must plan in terms of risk mitigation rather than prevention, Juniper warned. The company anticipates that service providers in high-risk environments would be forced to restructure their networks to avoid potential compliance breaches, data theft or service outage.
“Once a single endpoint is breached, the big danger is lateral movement across the network. Layered networks, proper lifecycle management and user ‘least privilege’ approaches will prove key to containing serious breaches,” research author Steffen Sorrell explained.
Meanwhile, with 46 billion connected units anticipated in 2021, securing IoT will also require more forward-thinking, Juniper added.
“With devices ‘in the field’ for years at a time, adopting a cybersecurity strategy that is flexible enough to react to future demands would be essential,” the research firm said.