The security market is expected to rise as 20% of companies worldwide have experienced attacks.
IoT security spending is expected to grow 28% year-over-year, reaching $3.1 billion in 2021.

According to Gartner research, approximately 20% of companies worldwide have experienced at least one IoT-based attack within the past three years. Gartner also forecasts that corporate spending on IoT security will reach $1.5 billion in 2018, a 28% increase from $1.2 billion in 2017.

“In many IoT initiatives, enterprises often don’t have control over the software and hardware embedded in smart, connected devices,” said Ruggero Contu, research director at Gartner. “Therefore, we expect to see demand for tools and services that help improve discovery, asset management, software and hardware security assessments, and penetration testing.”

“Enterprises will strive to better understand what externalizing network connectivity means, and these factors will drive IoT security spending, reaching $3.1 billion in 2021,” he predicted.



IoT security spending is steadily growing. However, Gartner predicts that a lack of security priority and a lack of robust IoT initiative implementation plans will be the biggest obstacles to IoT security market growth through 2020. This is expected to hinder potential IoT security spending by up to 80%.

"Most IoT security implementations are planned and implemented at the business unit level, without significant IT involvement," said Contu. He added, "Conversely, collaboration leveraging a common architecture or establishing a consistent security strategy is rare." He added, "Product and service selection processes are often ad hoc, driven by device provider partnerships or core system replacements."

While basic IoT security patterns have been identified across various projects, they haven't been established as policies or design templates that can be consistently used. Consequently, technical standards for specific IoT security components are only just beginning to be established by IT security standards organizations, consortia, and corporate alliances.

The lack of specific and rigorous regulations for IoT security creates uncertainty about the direction of product development, leading to a lack of security during the IoT product or platform development phase. Gartner predicts that this will change, particularly in sectors subject to strict regulations, such as healthcare and automotive, and that regulatory compliance will be the most critical factor in maintaining IoT security through 2021.

“There is growing interest in ways to improve automation of operational processes through intelligent connected devices such as sensors, robots, and remote connectivity,” said Contu Researcher. “This innovation, called the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) or Industry 4.0, is already impacting security in industries that apply operational technology (OT), such as energy, oil and gas, transportation, and manufacturing.”