Worldwide spending on security-related hardware, software, and services is forecast to reach $91.4 billion in 2018, an increase of 10.2% over the amount spent in 2017, according to IDC. This pace of growth is expected to continue for the next several years as industries invest heavily in security solutions to meet a wide range of threats and requirements, adds the research group.

IDC says worldwide spending on security solutions will achieve a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.0% over the 2016-2021 forecast period and total $120.7 billion in 2021.

"Banks, discrete manufacturers, especially within the high-tech sector, and the federal government are spending the most on security to avoid large scale cyber-attacks and adhere to regulatory compliance," said Eileen Smith, program director, Customer Insights and Analysis. "Looking ahead to 2021, as the need the to protect IoT connected devices and infrastructure becomes paramount, industries like telecom and state and local government will drive growth in worldwide security spending.”

The three industries that will spend the most on security solutions in 2018 – banking, discrete manufacturing, and federal/central government – will deliver more than $27 billion in spending combined. Four other industries (process manufacturing, professional services, consumer, and telecommunications) will each see spending greater than $5.0 billion this year. The industries that will experience the fastest spending growth over the 2016-2021 forecast period will be telecommunications (13.1% CAGR) education and state/local government (each with an 11.6% CAGR), banking (11.4% CAGR), and the resource industries (11.3% CAGR).

IDC says managed security services, which are single-tenant solutions operated by third-party providers and residing on the customers' premises, will be the largest technology category in 2018 with firms spending nearly $18 billion for these services. In addition, managed security services will be the largest category of spending for each of the top five industries this year.

The second largest technology category in 2018 will be network security hardware, followed by integration services and endpoint security software. The technology categories that will see the fastest spending growth over the forecast will be managed security services (14.7% CAGR), network security hardware (11.3% CAGR), security and vulnerability management software (10.9% CAGR), and network security software (10.7% CAGR).