Gartner Forecasts Worldwide Security and Risk Management Spending Growth to Slow but Remain Positive in 2020

Short Term Demand for Cloud and Remote Worker Security Props Up Overall Market

Bangkok Thailand, June 17, 2020 — Worldwide spending on information security and risk management technology and services will continue to grow through 2020, although at a lower rate than previously forecast, according to Gartner, Inc.

Information security spending is expected to grow 2.4% to reach $123.8 billion in 2020 (see Table 1). This is down from the 8.7% growth Gartner projected in its December 2019 forecast update. The coronavirus pandemic is driving short-term demand in areas such as cloud adoption, remote worker technologies and cost saving measures.

“Like other segments of IT, we expect security will be negatively impacted by the COVID-19 crisis,” said Lawrence Pingree, managing vice president at Gartner. “Overall we expect a pause and a reduction of growth in both security software and services during 2020.”

“However, there are a few factors in favor of some security market segments, such as cloud-based offerings and subscriptions, being propped up by demand or delivery model. Some security spending will not be discretionary and the positive trends cannot be ignored,” he said.

Table 1

Worldwide Security Spending by Segment, 2019-2020 (Millions of U.S. Dollars)

Due to rounding, some figures may not add up precisely to the totals shown.

Source: Gartner (June 2020)

The ongoing shift to a cloud-based delivery model makes the security market somewhat more resilient to a downturn, with an average penetration of 12% of overall security deployments cloud-based in 2019, according to Gartner research. Cloud-based delivery models have reached well above 50% of the deployments in markets such as secure email and web gateways.

Networking security equipment including firewall equipment and intrusion detection and prevention systems (IDPS) will be most severely impacted by spending cuts this year. Consumer spending on security software is also forecast to decline in 2020.

Gartner clients can learn more in the reports “Forecast: Information Security and Risk Management, Worldwide, 2018-2024, 1Q20 Update” and “Forecast Alert: Impact of COVID-19 on the Information Security Software and Services Markets.”

Learn more about how to lead organizations through the disruption of coronavirus in the Gartner coronavirus resource center, a collection of complimentary Gartner research and webinars to help organizations respond, manage and prepare for the rapid spread and global impact of COVID-19.