A few weeks before the end of 2020, hackers breached software provider SolarWinds, directly infecting the company’s Orion software as well as several local, state, and federal agencies in the United States. Private companies like Microsoft also got exposed to malware.
Companies to increase cybersecurity spending
Based on the SEC documents submitted by SolarWinds, it verified that around 18,000 of its customers installed the trojanized updates from its software. This led to a massive search inside enterprise networks and continuous checks to ensure that second-stage malware payloads will be prevented.
According to the research data analyzed and published by the Finnish website Sijoitusrahastot, hacking attempts like this will push companies to increase their cybersecurity spending by 20% in 2021. From $40.8 billion in 2019, the total cybersecurity spending in 2020 is $43.1 billion. It is expected to reach $51.7 billion in 2021.
Global cybersecurity market to grow
According to a study by Markets and Markets, from $152.71 billion in 2018, the global cybersecurity market is estimated to grow to $248.26 billion by 2023. This represents a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.6%. North America is forecast to hold the biggest market size because of the presence of many key players and tech companies in the region. At the second spot is Europe, followed by APAC.
Additionally, a Gartner report states that informational security spending alone reached $128.8 billion in 2020. Aside from the recent hacks, the coronavirus pandemic is also causing short-term demand in areas such as remote worker technology and cloud adoption. Security services got the highest spending, followed by infrastructure protection and network security equipment.