IDC Sees Security-related Spending Rising To $82 Billion This Year, Accelerating Through 2020

International Data Corp. (IDC) said it expects global spending on security technology to rise to $81.7 billion in 2017, up 8.2% from a year ago. Spending on security-related hardware, software and services is expected to "accelerate slightly" over the next several years, achieving a compound annual growth rate of 8.7% through 2020, with industry revenue projected to approach $105 billion. "The rapid growth of digital transformation is putting pressures on companies across all industries to proactively invest in security to protect themselves against known and unknown threats," said Eileen Smith, a program director at IDC. She said the banking, discrete manufacturing and government industries will spend the most on security technology. Of the three security-related areas, services will be the largest area of spending, IDC says. The SPDR Technology Select Sector ETF has rallied 10% year to date, while the S&P 500 has gained 5.4%.