Dive Brief:

• Worldwide spending on information security products and services will reach $86.4 billion in 2017, an increase of 7% over 2016, according to new data released Wednesday from Gartner. By 2018, spending in the area is expected to grow to $93 billion.

• The security testing market is expected to see some of the fastest growth due to data breaches and growing demands for application security testing as part of DevOps, Gartner said. But security services will continue to be the fastest growing segment, especially IT outsourcing, consulting and implementation services.

• Hardware support services are the only area of security expected to see slowing growth. That's due to the "adoption of virtual appliances, public cloud and software as a service (SaaS) editions of security solutions, which reduces the need for attached hardware support overall," Gartner said. 

Dive Insight:

Cyberthreats are growing, and better protection from those threats comes at a cost. Strong growth in spending on security products and services therefore comes as little surprise.

But a few other things are driving security spending as well. For example, the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) goes into effect May 25, 2018, and it brings with it big changes in how companies are legally required to protect personal data. Gartner predicts the GDPR will drive 65% of data loss prevention buying decisions today through 2018.

As companies spend more on cybersecurity, they are also reminded that prevention is the best medicine. The average cost of recovery from a single security incident is estimated to be $86,500 for small and medium businesses and $861,000 for enterprises, according to a report released last fall from Kaspersky Lab.