As companies boost their digitization efforts in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, cybersecurity spending is expected to increase significantly this year.
The World Economic Forum’s COVID-19 Risks Outlook found that 50 percent of enterprises were concerned about increased cyberattacks due to a shift in work patterns.
“Cybersecurity matters even more given the increased dependency on digital infrastructure to ensure collective resilience. Many of the industries which are transforming serve critical functions – and a break in their supply chains could affect the movement and availability of life-saving drugs, components, equipment and raw materials,” the report noted.
As a result, while IT spending is expected to fall because of the economy, spending on cybersecurity will continue to grow. In fact, eight of ten cybersecurity markets are projected to grow faster than the market average, with Cloud Security growing the fastest by 33 percent, becoming a $585 million market this year. In addition, security services are predicted to reach $64.2 billion in worldwide revenue this year, comprising 51.9 percent of the total market, while data security will grow by 7.2 percent to reach $2.8 billion.
In addition, data show that 89 percent of all cybersecurity spending will be concentrated within five markets this year: Spending on Security Services, Infrastructure Protection, Network Security Equipment, Identity Access Management and Consumer Security Software.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that financial institutions are also going to step up their cybersecurity spending this year. A survey conducted by Deloitte & Touche LLP and the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center found that banks plan on boosting their spending by 15 percent in 2020 compared to last year.
The survey looked at cybersecurity spending per employee, which increased an average of $2,691 annually from $2,337—with some banks spending as much as $3,000 each year. For the biggest banks, those totals could approach $1 billion annually: around $850 million annually for J.P. Morgan Chase and nearly $900 million annually for Wells Fargo. In addition, Citigroup and Bank of America are expected to spend about $700 million annually each.
