Dive Brief:
- Global spending on information security is projected to reach almost $212 billion next year, a 15% increase from 2024, Gartner said last week in its latest forecast on security spending.
- The security software segment, which includes endpoint protection platforms, captures the majority of information security spending globally. Gartner forecasts spending on security software will increase 15% to nearly $101 billion in 2025.
- The research firm’s forecast for 2025 includes a 15.6% jump in security services spending, which is expected to exceed $86 billion, and a 13% increase in network security spending to almost $25 billion. Security services includes consulting and professional and managed security services.
Dive Insight:
Gartner’s global forecast for information security spending reflects a continuation of annual double-digit growth rates, rising from $162 billion in 2023 to almost $212 billion next year.
The steady increase comes as organizations assess their endpoint protection platform and endpoint detection and response needs following last month’s CrowdStrike Falcon sensor update that caused a global IT network outage.
In the wake of that incident, some organizations are making adjustments to improve operational resilience and incident response capabilities, Gartner analysts said in the report.
“The main thing is to ensure that you have quick rollback procedures and incident response processes documented and tested,” Lawrence Pingree, VP analyst at Gartner, said via email.
Executives from Palo Alto Networks and SentinelOne said CrowdStrike customers have reached out since the outage to explore a potential change in security vendors.
CrowdStrike warned investors the financial impact from the defective software update will continue through the first half of 2025, but CEO George Kurtz disputed competitors’ claims of customer defections in last week’s earnings call.
Organizations’ reevaluation of EPP and EDR vendors is driven by technical factors, cost and complexity, too. Enterprises are shifting spend to security vendors with first-mover advantages in extended detection and response, and some budgets focus on upgrading tools or vendor consolidation, Pingree said.
“Gartner continues to see consolidation occurring in endpoint protection platforms overall,” Pingree said.
