According to the latest forecast from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Security Spending Guide, global security spending is expected to grow by 12,2% year on year in 2025.
The increasing complexity and frequency of cyberthreats — accelerated by generative AI (GenAI) and AI in general — are driving organisations worldwide to adopt more advanced defensive measures. As a result, security spending is expected to see sustained growth throughout the 2023–2028 forecast period, reaching $377-billion in 2028.
The US and Western Europe will continue to account for more than 70% of global security spending in 2025. However, all geographic regions are expected to see consistent growth in security spending this year, with the highest increases in Latin America, Central & Eastern Europe, and the Middle East & Africa.
“Growing digital transformation and hiking emerging technology adoption across the Middle East & Africa (MEA) region — especially countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) — have pushed the demand significantly for security solutions to face the evolving threat landscapes. MEA is witnessing substantial investments from both government and enterprises to fight rising cyber threats, with strong awareness for the importance of cybersecurity education and training programs to fortify organizations against possible attacks,” says Eman Elshewy, senior research manager with IDC Data and Analytics.
Security software will be the largest technology group in 2025, representing more than half of the worldwide security market this year, as well as the fastest growing one, with a 14,4% year-on-year growth rate.
The security software market growth will be driven especially by cloud native application protection platform (CNAPP), identity and access management software, and security analytics software growth, reflecting the special focus that companies will put on integrated cyberthreats detection and response around their whole organisational perimeter.
Security services will be the second fastest growing technology group in 2025, driven by the continuous expansion of managed security services, on which organizations of all sizes will continue to increase their focus as a flexible and efficient way to face new security challenges. Finally, security hardware will rank third, achieving single-digit but steady growth in 2025.
Banking, federal/central government, telecommunications, capital markets, and healthcare provider will be the industries spending the most at the global level on security in 2025, while the fastest-growing will be capital markets, media and entertainment, and life sciences with an expected year-on-year growth rate of 19,4%, 17,1%, and 16,9%, respectively in 2025.
“The protection from cyber threats — now enhanced by AI and GenAI — is becoming an increasingly strategic issue for organizations in all industries, especially for those managing critical infrastructures (for example, oil & gas, telecommunications), developing critical assets (like aerospace & defense, life sciences), or providing key services to clients (for example, banking, capital markets) and citizens (such as federal/central government, healthcare provider),” says Stefano Perini, research manager with IDC Data and Analytics.
“Although national and international regulations still play an important role in guiding organisations’ security strategies — especially in regulated industries — more of them are realizing that having a proactive approach to security is crucial, not only as a short-term operational protection measure but also as a competitive advantage in the long term.”
While large and very large businesses account for the majority of security spending across all regions, small and medium-sized businesses will continue to increase their investments in security throughout the forecast period to address security gaps and protect their assets and processes as their digital transformation accelerates.