Information security expenditure projected to achieve a three-year growth high, surpassing $212 billion next year, according to Gartner.
In the rapidly evolving digital landscape, the global spending on information security is set to reach an unprecedented level next year, with cybersecurity budgets poised to grow by more than 15%. This significant increase, according to Gartner's 2025 forecasts, is a reflection of the compounded effects of advancing AI technologies, growing cyber threats, and enterprises' strategic prioritization of cybersecurity to ensure secure digital transformation and AI adoption.
The surge in cybersecurity spending, particularly in the security software segment and network security spending, is driven by several key factors. The rising global cybersecurity threats and vulnerabilities, amid ongoing digital transformation, force organisations to invest more in protecting data, infrastructure, and applications. The accelerated adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) and generative AI (GenAI) technologies requires enhanced security frameworks, including AI-specific security software and network defenses.
Moreover, the need to support domain-specific AI models (DSLMs), which are more secure and relevant for specialized use cases but require increased security investments to protect sensitive and proprietary data integrated into these models, is another significant driver. A business environment of global uncertainty has caused a cautious pause on net-new IT spending overall, yet cybersecurity remains a priority because of the critical role security plays in enabling digital and AI-driven initiatives without introducing undue risk.
Sustained focus on cloud, data centre, and network infrastructure security, as these are foundational to supporting AI workloads and increasingly hybrid digital ecosystems, is another factor. Gartner highlights that spending on data centre systems is expected to grow by over 40%, which correlates with growth in network and security software spending to protect these systems.
The continued increase in cyberattacks complexity and volume, requiring more sophisticated security software solutions and proactive network security measures, further contributes to the surge in cybersecurity spending.
George Kurtz, CEO of CrowdStrike, recently disputed competitors' claims of customer defections in last week's earnings call. However, CrowdStrike customers have reached out to explore a potential change in security vendors following the outage caused by a defective software update. Some organisations are making adjustments to improve their operational resilience and incident response capabilities following the CrowdStrike incident.
Enterprises are reevaluating EPP (Endpoint Protection Platform) and EDR (Endpoint Detection and Response) vendors due to technical factors, cost, and complexity. Some organisations are focusing their budgets on security vendors with first-mover advantages in extended detection and response.
In addition, Gartner continues to see consolidation occurring in endpoint protection platforms. Spending on security services, including consulting and professional and managed security services, is forecasted to exceed $86 billion in 2025, with a 15.6% jump. Network security spending is projected to increase 13% to almost $25 billion in 2025.
In conclusion, the sharp increase in information security spending in 2025 reflects the compounded effects of advancing AI technologies, growing cyber threats, and enterprises’ strategic prioritization of cybersecurity to ensure secure digital transformation and AI adoption. Lawrence Pingree, VP analyst at Gartner, suggested ensuring quick rollback procedures and incident response processes are documented and tested to mitigate potential risks.
[1] Gartner (2021) Gartner Forecasts Worldwide IT Spending to Grow 7.9 Percent in 2022. [online] Available at: https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2021-10-13-gartner-forecasts-worldwide-it-spending-to-grow-7-9-percent-in-2022 [2] Gartner (2021) Gartner Says Worldwide Security Spending to Reach $167 Billion in 2022. [online] Available at: https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2021-10-13-gartner-says-worldwide-security-spending-to-reach-167-billion-in-2022 [4] Gartner (2021) Gartner Says Worldwide IT Spending to Reach $5.4 Trillion in 2022. [online] Available at: https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2021-10-13-gartner-says-worldwide-it-spending-to-reach-5-4-trillion-in-2022
- Given the growing cyber threats and the requirements of advancing AI technologies, organizations are increasingly focusing their budgets on incident response, cybersecurity, and network security to ensure secure digital transformation and AI adoption.
- The surge in spending on security software, particularly in the network security segment, is a result of the need for enhanced security frameworks, including AI-specific security software and network defenses, as well as the increasing complexity and volume of cyberattacks.
