Enterprises will spend 4 times more on cloud security in 2019: Gartner

Enterprise spending on cloud security will increase four times to $4 million in 2019 compared to last year ($1 million), according to consulting services and research company Gartner.

US-based Gartner forecasts that enterprise information security spending will increase to $1.86 billion by 2019, up 12.4% from 2018.

Gartner said in a report titled Forecast: Information Security and Risk Management Worldwide, 2017-2023, 2019 Update that security services will form over 51% of the total enterprise security spending in India this year.

With the growing emphasis on threat detection and compliance among other things, security services are expected to attract the most spending from chief information security officers (CISOs), Gartner said in a statement.

The second-fastest growing segment, integrated risk management, will register a growth of over 23% year over year.

Increase in security spending among enterprises has been attributed to the mounting pressure on CISOs due to the rising incidence of privacy breaches.

Security vulnerabilities have pushed enterprises to shore up data security, address privacy concerns and create a more secure IT infrastructure for online transactions.

Cloud security, integrated risk management and data security will continue to be the fastest growing segments in 2020, Gartner said.

“The increased awareness of the benefits of risk assessment and the acknowledgement that security is one of the enablers of digital transformation are boosting enterprise security spending in India. In addition, the rise in advanced cyberattacks, ransomware and malware attacks has put cybersecurity as a top investment priority for Indian CISOs, therefore increasing spending on security locally,” said Prateek Bhajanka, principal research analyst, Gartner.

Multiple reports have indicated that cybersecurity concerns have been gripping industries across geographies.

UK-based security software solutions provider Sophos found in its recent report that enterprises struggle to cope with cybersecurity challenges due to the paucity of expertise, budgetary resources and old technologies.

A report by American technology giant IBM found the average cost of a single data breach amounts to Rs 12.8 crore. Cybersecurity attacks in India have also become more organised.

A study jointly conducted by business consulting firm Frost & Sullivan and cybersecurity provider Forcepoint found that 65% of the organisations it surveyed said cybersecurity vulnerabilities have hampered the implementation of their respective digital transformation projects.