Spending on IoT security to reach $348 mn in 2016: Gartner

The global spending on the Internet of Things (IoT) security will reach $348 million in 2016 -- a 23.7 percent increase from last year ($281.5 million), a Gartner report said on Monday.

Spending on the IoT security is expected to reach $547 million in 2018.

Although overall spending will initially be moderate, Gartner said that IoT security market spending will increase at a faster rate after 2020 as improved skills, organisational change and more scalable service options improve execution.

"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," said Ruggero Contu, research director at Gartner, in a statement.

The report titled "Forecast: IoT Security, Worldwide, 2016" predicted that 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 prioritis1ation and security awareness," Contu added.

By 2020, more than 25 percent of identified attacks in enterprises will involve IoT although IoT will account for less than 10 percent of IT security budgets.

The market for IoT security products is dependent on IoT adoption by the consumer and industry sectors.

The endpoint spending will be dominated by connected cars, as well as other complex machines and vehicles, such as heavy trucks, commercial aircraft, and farming and construction equipment.

The future of cloud-based security services is in part linked with the future of the IoT.

"In fact, the IoT's fundamental strength in scale and presence will not be fully realised without cloud-based security services to deliver an acceptable level of operation for many organisations in a cost-effective manner," Contu predicted.

By 2020, Gartner predicts that over half of all IoT implementations will use some form of cloud-based security service.

--IANS

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