Worldwide spending on security is expected to rise to $60 billion in 2012

September 13, 2012

3 Min Read

PRESS RELEASE

STAMFORD, Conn., September 13, 2012—While the global economic slowdown has been putting pressure on IT budgets, security is expected to remain a priority through 2016, according to Gartner, Inc. Worldwide spending on security is expected to rise to $60 billion in 2012, up 8.4 percent from $55 billion in 2011. Gartner expects this trajectory to continue, reaching $86 billion in 2016.

The security infrastructure market consists of the software, services and network security appliances used to secure enterprise and consumer IT equipment.

IT outsourcing (managed security services), secure Web gateway (appliance), and security information and event management (SIEM) are the fastest-growing security segments. Demand for cloud-based security is also impacting a number of key security markets, and above-average growth is expected for this new delivery model.

"The security infrastructure market is expected to experience positive growth over the forecast period, despite risks of further economic turbulence," said Lawrence Pingree, research director at Gartner. "Results from the 2012 annual Gartner CIO survey show increased prioritization for security compared with 2011 and results from Gartner budgeting surveys published in June 2012 underline the fact that organizations globally are prioritizing on security budgets."

Overall, 45 percent of survey respondents expected a security budget increase, 50 percent expected their budget to remain the same and only 5 percent expected their budget to decrease in 2012. This pattern varied little across regions, although some countries in emerging regions demonstrated a much-higher expectation of an increase.

"Although security remains fairly resilient in tough times, the prolonged financial crises seen in the U.S. and Europe have had some impact on IT security spending globally but to a lesser extent for emerging countries, such as Brazil, China and India," said Ruggero Contu, research director at Gartner.

Gartner expects demand for security products and services to be driven by the persistent threat landscape and influenced by the increasingly targeted and evolving attack patterns that are growing in sophistication. Within this environment, organizations will continue to seek the expertise and help of security technology and service providers to mitigate risks and reduce security vulnerabilities.

"Our most current forecast reflects our expectation that the various markets within security infrastructure will be affected to different degrees. In 2012, the market contributing most to overall growth, excluding exchange rate effects, is security services, followed by security software," said Mr. Pingree. "We expect current market trends will keep security infrastructure growth at between 9 percent and 11 percent from 2011 through 2013, but we are factoring in a higher degree of caution in terms of buying behavior."

Additional information is available in the Gartner report "Forecast Overview: Security Infrastructure, Worldwide, 2010-2016, 2Q12 Update." The report is available at http://www.gartner.com/resId=2112716.

About the Gartner Security and Risk Management Summit 2012 Gartner analysts will examine the key issues facing the security industry during the Gartner Security & Risk Management Summit. The Gartner Security & Risk Management Summit features four programs focusing on security; risk management and compliance; business continuity management; and chief information security officer (CISO) roles to deliver detailed, role-specific content and networking. Each program offers a full agenda of analyst sessions, keynotes, roundtable discussions, case studies, workshops and more.

For additional details about the Gartner Security & Risk Management Summit taking place September 19-20 in London, please visit http://www.gartner.com/technology/summits/emea/security/. Members of the media can register by contacting [email protected].

Additional information from the event will be shared on Twitter at http://twitter.com/Gartner_inc and using #GartnerSEC.

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