Fly in the ointment for buoyant IT security market

Gartner says European customers may postpone purchases until next year in wake of 20 per cent price hikes

Gartner has tempered its bright forecast for the IT security market by warning that recent price hikes may prompt European customers to postpone purchases this year.

Global IT security spending will bounce 4.7 per cent to $75.4bn (£49.2bn) in 2015, with security testing, outsourcing and identity and access management providing particular hotspots, according to the market watcher.

However, price hikes of up to 20 per cent in Europe, driven by the recent dollar appreciation, will prompt customers here to forgo some spending for the next quarter or so, Gartner warned.

Neither will all sub-segments of the market enjoy stellar growth, with Gartner downgrading its forecasts for end-point protection platforms and consumer security software spending, citing concerns over commoditisation.

Gartner's buoyant forecast comes after another market watcher, Infonetics, released figures claiming the network security market swelled by 13 per cent year on year in Q2. It also contrasts with the 5.5 per cent spending contraction Gartner forecasts the wider IT market will endure in 2015.

The Ashley Madison saga was a mainstream global news story this summer and Gartner acknowledged that the IT security spending frenzy is being driven by high-profile data breaches, as well as government initiatives and increased legislation.

"Interest in security technologies is increasingly driven by elements of digital business, particularly cloud, mobile computing and now also the Internet of Things, as well as by the sophisticated and high-impact nature of advanced targeted attacks," added Elizabeth Kim, research analyst at Gartner.

This focus is driving investment in end-point detection and remediation tools and threat intelligence and cloud security tools such as encryption, Kim added.