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Global spending on security products and solutions is forecast to reach US$133.7 billion in 2022 according to recent research.
IDC expects the security market to deliver a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.9 per cent, although spending growth is expected to slow over the next four years.
This is according to an update to IDC's Worldwide Semiannual Security Spending Guide, which considers hardware, software and services.
In 2022, spending on security will be 45 per cent greater than the US$92.1 billion forecast for 2018.
Banking will be the industry making the largest investment in security solutions, growing from US$10.5 billion in 2018 to US$16.0 billion in 2022, according to IDC.
More than half of that money is expected to be invested into security-related services, led by managed security services.
The telecommunications industry will see 13.1 per cent CAGR growth.
"Security remains an investment priority in every industry as companies seek to protect themselves from large scale cyber attacks and to meet expanding regulatory requirements," said Eileen Smith, program director, customer insights and analysis.
"While security services are an important part of this investment strategy, companies are also investing in the infrastructure and applications needed to meet the challenges of a steadily evolving threat environment."
Security-related services will be both the largest – with US$40.2 billion in 2018 – and the fastest growing category of worldwide security spending.
Managed security services is expected to the largest segment within the services category, delivering nearly 50 per cent of the category total in 2022.
Currently, security software is the second-largest category with spending expected to total US$34.4 billion in 2018.
Endpoint security software will be the largest software segment throughout the forecast period, followed by identity and access management software and security and vulnerability management software.
IDC predicts that hardware spending will be led by unified threat management solutions, followed by firewall and content management.
Businesses with more than 500 employees will be responsible for nearly two thirds of all security-related spending in 2018. Large and medium businesses will see the strongest spending growth over the forecast, with CAGR of 11.8 per cent and 10.0 per cent respectively.
However, very large businesses, those with more than 1,000 employees, will grow nearly as fast with a five-year CAGR of 10.1 per cent.
Small businesses will experience a solid 8.9 per cent CAGR growth with spending expected to be more than US$8.0 billion in 2018.
