Cybersecurity spending to top $81bn this year - IDC

Analyst predicts spending on cybersecurity hardware, software and services will reach nearly $105bn by 2020

Global cybersecurity spending will increase to over $81bn this year, driven by the growing fear of cyber attacks and looming regulatory changes, according to IDC.

The analyst has forecasted that in 2017 spending on security-related hardware, software and services will jump 8.7 per cent year on year to $81.2bn (£65.8m).

The market watcher predicts spending to be nearly $105bn by 2020, representing a compound annual growth rate of 8.7 per cent.

"European organisations show a strong focus on security matters with data, cloud, and mobile security being the top three security concerns," said Angela Vacca, senior research manager, customer insights and analysis.

"In this context, GDPR will drive up compliance-related projects significantly in 2017 and 2018, until organisations have found a cost-efficient and scalable way of dealing with data.

"In particular, western European utilities, professional services, and healthcare institutions will increase their security spending the most while the banking industry remains the largest market."

Services are set to see the highest spend over the 2015 to 2020 forecast period - comprising managed security services, integration services and consulting services - and are set to make up over a third of spending at $31.2bn in 2017.

Banking, discrete manufacturing and governments will be the three biggest-spending sectors in 2017, shelling out 30 per cent of all spending this year.

Companies with more than 500 employees will account for over two thirds of spending in the forecast period to 2020, with businesses of more than 1,000 employees set to pass the $50bn mark in 2019.