Dive Brief:

• More than 1.5 billion people will be affected by data breaches by 2020, predicts IDC.
• The firm also predicts that by 2020 over half of all enterprises will have adopted cloud-based Web security platforms.
• Businesses that have been breached say consumers are distancing themselves from them.

Dive Insight:

Increasingly sophisticated cyber criminals are also looking for more durable data to steal. One example of this is healthcare information, which Christian A. Christiansen, IDC Program Vice President, Security Products and Services, says has a lifespan of months, years, or "even decades." Credit card information, on the other hand, has a lifespan of just hours after it is used in an unauthorized transaction.

IDC also predicts that by 2019, geopolitical divisions and global economic instability will result in cyberattacks targeting suppliers. And by 2017, the firm says, the security services market will increase at least 30% due to the scarcity and high price of available data scientists.

"IT security investments must support a risk-based approach to making business decisions and enable organizations to identify and seize opportunities for growth," said Christiansen.