Australian cybersecurity spend to surpass $5 billion: Gartner

2021 spending by Australian organisations on information security and risk management technology and services is expected to grow 7.3 percent year over year, hitting $5.1 billion, according to Gartner.

This lower than the global expected growth of 12.4 percent, to reach US$150.4 billion

Cloud security makes up the smallest proportion of spending at $20 million but has the highest growth rate with an increase of 33.8 percent.

Cloud access security brokers (CASB) are seeing particularly high growth rates in the global market.

“The pace of client inquiry indicates that CASB is a popular choice for cloud-using organisations,” said managing research vice president Lawrence Pingree. 

“This is due to the growing popularity of using non-PC devices for interacting with core business processes, which creates security risks that can be mitigated effectively with a CASB. CASBs also enable safer interaction between SaaS applications and unmanaged devices.”

Security services will account for A$3.2 billion, the largest share of the market, which includes consulting, hardware support, implementation and outsourced services. 

Gartner analysts said the strong global growth rate reflects continuing demand for remote worker technologies and cloud security.

“Organisations continue to grapple with the security and regulatory demands of public cloud and software as a service,” said Pingree.

“Looking ahead, we’re seeing early market signals of growing automation and further adoption of machine learning technologies in support of AI security. To combat attacks, organisations will extend and standardise threat detection and response activities.”

Gartner said its 2021 CIO Agenda Survey showed that cybersecurity was the top priority, with 61 percent of those surveyed saying they will increase investment this year.

Australian Information Security & Risk Management End User Spending by Segment, 2020-2021 (Millions of AUD)

Source: Gartner 2021