By Jeff Domansky, Jan 25, 2021
With new threats emerging and the number of attacks growing, global cybersecurity spending is expected to rise 10% in 2021, according to the latest global security forecast by Canalys. The report noted the spending increase could be reduced to + 6% if the coronavirus continues to keep many businesses closed.
The research firm predicts $60.2 billion will be spent on security products and services this year, including “endpoint security, network security, web and email security, data security and vulnerability, security analytics, and identity access management.”
Canalys said more than 12 billion data records were compromised last year, and ransomware attacks jumped 60%.
Emerging threats
While misconfigured cloud databases and phishing campaigns remained big headaches for business, new threats emerged last year during the pandemic.
“The biggest threats are always those not yet known. The discovery of the SUNBURST advanced persistent threat campaign at the end of 2020, stemming from malicious code injected into the widely used SolarWinds Orion IT management platform and subsequent infiltration into other systems, highlights this,” Canalys chief analyst Matthew Ball wrote.
Canalys identified poorly trained remote workers as a new weak link in security as hackers increasingly targeted businesses who moved quickly to enable work from home strategies in response to the pandemic.
“Sadly at this time, with the healthcare and education sectors under extraordinary pressure, more attacks and online fraud were directed at them. Ongoing mass remote working and learning, and the acceleration of digital transformation projects will maintain this trend in 2021,” the report said.
Other researchers have highlighted similar cybersecurity concerns during the coronavirus pandemic.
“Growth in add-on subscriptions providing new features, products to secure the cloud and delivered from the cloud, and upgrades to existing solutions will be key drivers for expansion. The need for organizations to adopt multi-layered and holistic approaches, combining employee awareness training, data protection, and backup, threat, and vulnerability detection, and response will remain critical,” Ball added.
The cybersecurity sectors expected to grow the fastest in 2021 includes web and email security (+12.5%), vulnerability and security analytics (+11.0%), endpoint security (+10.4%), identity and access management (+10.4%), network security (+8.0%), and data security (+6.6%).
You can read more about cybersecurity spending and growth in 2021 from Canalys here.
Look into our other recent PaymentsNEXT coverage on cybersecurity:
The challenging state of small business cybersecurity
10 SMB cybersecurity facts you should know
Top 3 Cybersecurity Vulnerabilities Your Business Faces Now
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