Businesses Expected to Spend $96 Billion this Year on IT Security

A report by Gartner has provided evidence that security considerations are anticipated to see investments in 2018. So, if you were planning on focusing on your business’ information security this year, you certainly aren’t the only one.

An analysis of businesses around the world shows that increasing attention has been devoted to security essentials that have always been given a relatively smaller chunk of the budget to work with. Furthermore, security spending has been going up across the board.

This means that, while identity access management receives the smallest investment, there is still an anticipated 9.7 percent rise in spending on it when comparing 2017 to 2018. There is also a 6.7 percent anticipated rise in spending on network security, an 11 percent rise in investment into security services, and a growth of 7.7 percent where infrastructure protection is concerned.

For an explanation as to why this increase in security investments is taking place, one only has to consider what 2017 offered cybersecurity.

To be frank, it wasn’t pretty.

There were security events with global impact, including NotPetya and WannaCry, as well as the news of the Equifax security breach. With these events and more only providing more evidence of the value that proactive and comprehensive network security preparations can provide, businesses are learning that it is better to be forearmed, than it is to just be forewarned.

Yet many projections suggest that even the overall spending increase we have seen of 8.8 percent may not be enough to keep up with the trajectory that is anticipated for cybersecurity. There are countless examples of how the increased reliance we have on technology in everyday life can lead to increased risk as well. Consider what today’s botnets use for ammunition. Instead of attacking PCs and workstations, phones and IoT devices are being targeted--and that’s just one way that the way we consider cybersecurity will have to change.

On a more positive note, businesses are seeing the value in outsourcing their growing security needs to professionals with the necessary experience to implement them. Spending of this kind is projected to see an increase of 11 percent. Will any of that come from your investment?

If so, make sure you reach out to BEI. Our professionals understand how to use IT solutions to improve your business’ security and performance. For more information, call (844) BIZ-EDGE.