Cybersecurity spend in critical infra to reach US$236 bn by 2027

With the impacts of COVID-19 on cybersecurity spending budgets behind industrial sectors, worldwide investments in Critical Infrastructure (CI) cybersecurity will display robust growth rates in all sectors, according to global technology intelligence firm ABI Research. The global cybersecurity market was estimated at US$213 billion in 2022 and is projected to be more than US$380 billion by 2027. CI cybersecurity spending will stand at around USD$236 billion by 2027, displaying a healthy Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 14%.

The pandemic hindered cybersecurity spending in some sectors while boosting spending in others. “For example, cyber spending in the transport sector was significantly affected during the first few fiscal quarters of the pandemic, when many sectors grounded to a halt (most notably the aviation industry). On the contrary, the healthcare sector saw an uptick in cybersecurity spending at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic as healthcare operations ramped up significantly. Spending in healthcare is expected to slow post-2023 as the effects of the pandemic level out. At the same time, transportation cybersecurity spending will return to normal,” states Michael Amiri, Senior Industrial Cybersecurity Analyst at ABI Research.

The defense sector has the highest spending among all eight sectors in ABI Research’s report and is predicted to reach more than US$52 billion in 2027. Defense has traditionally been well-funded, from national security and intelligence measures to simulation of cyber war games. Over the last decade, investment in cyber defensive and offensive measures has been at the forefront of CI spending. Therefore beyond 2023, cybersecurity spending in defense and public security has been revised upwards. A reshaped global political landscape boosts this trend due to the war in Ukraine and the world power’s competition. The other sectors in the report include defense, energy, finance, health, Information & Communication Technologies (ICT), public security, transport, and water & waste management. Each segment of spending is further broken down by sector (government, industry, etc.) and by type (Information Technology (IT), Operational Technologies & IoT, Counter Measures, Policies & Procedures, etc.).

“The United States Fiscal Year 2023 cyber budget shows moderate increases generally and strong increases in the defense sector. As such, ABI Research’s forecast model has a slightly higher average Year-on-Year (YOY) growth rate than previously stated given the impact of United States spending on total expenditures worldwide,” says Michael Amiri, Senior Industrial Cybersecurity Analyst at ABI Research.

CT Bureau