IoT Security Spending To Reach $547 Million in 2018, Gartner Says

Global spending on IoT security will reach $348 million in 2016, a 24 percent increase from 2015, and is expected to reach $547 million in 2018, Gartner said in a Monday report. Though IoT security spending will be “moderate” at the outset, it will increase “at a faster rate after 2020, as improved skills, organizational change and more scalable service options improve execution,” said the research firm. “The market for IoT security products is currently small but it is growing as both consumers and businesses start using connected devices in ever greater numbers." The firm forecasts 6.4 billion connected things will be in use worldwide in 2016, up 30 percent from 2015, and will reach 11.4 billion by 2018. “However, considerable variation exists among different industry sectors as a result of different levels of prioritization and security awareness," it said. Gartner predicts by 2020 more than 25 percent of identified attacks in enterprises will involve IoT, but IoT will be less than 10 percent of IT security budgets, it said. “Security vendors will be challenged to provide usable IoT security features because of the limited assigned budgets for IoT and the decentralized approach to early IoT implementations in organizations. Vendors will focus too much on spotting vulnerabilities and exploits, rather than segmentation and other long-term means that better protect IoT.”