The annual show Infosecurity Europe has released research into the cyber security budgets of organisations. Most, 69 per cent of surveyed IT decision-makers stated that they have seen, or will see, their cybersecurity budgets increase between 10pc and 100pc in 2024. Almost one in five (19pc) of those surveyed are seeing or are expecting to see budgets increase between 30-49pc over the coming year.
Among comments, Mun Valiji, CISO, Trainline, Infosecurity Europe’s Advisory Council member said: “We continue to see pragmatic budgetary spend on cyber security under mounting macroeconomic pressures. The fast-changing threat landscape and tightening regulatory pressures have in the main seen security budgets benefiting from much-needed increases which is positively received.”
For those who plan to increase cyber budget in 2024, cloud security and incident response will see the biggest injection, the survey suggests, as near half, 47pc noting that between 1pc and 20pc of the additional investment will be spent in those areas. Other findings:
46pc said 1-20pc of their spend will go towards MSSP outsourcing and antivirus.
45pc of respondents said the same amount of spend will go on identity security management.
A further 44pcare willing to invest between 1-20pcof their budget on education and training.
43%pc of respondents are willing to invest the same amount of their budget on managed detection and patching.
And 41pc consider investing the same budget in AI enabled cyber tools and consolidation.
Email security and threat exposure management seemed to be at the bottom of the priority list with only 40pc saying they would invest between 1-20pc of their additional budget in these areas. This could be down to the budget injection in MSSPs and the potential to outsource these issues, the researchers suggest.
Ian Hill, CISO, UPP Corporation, and Infosecurity Europe’s Advisory Council member said: “One major consideration for cyber security spending in 2024, is the forecast, and in some cases significant increase in licences and associated support costs compared to 2023, either through direct price increases or the more insidious practice of licensed product scope manipulation. Add this to the continued rise in cyber professionals’ salaries, which makes outsourcing to an MSSP a more viable proposition for many businesses. SaaS in particular is seeing notable price increases, with many businesses ‘locked-in’ and with little choice but to bite the bullet.”
Nicole Mills, Exhibition Director at Infosecurity Group, added: “Cybersecurity is all-encompassing and no business, organisation or individual is devoid of risk. The industry continues to grow, threats evolve and so too do the innovative products developed to protect against them. The conference provides a springboard for industry leaders, experts and vendors to join heads and join forces, to collaborate and share experiences and knowledge. Peers come together to debate and discuss critical topics to find solutions to problems and put solid cybersecurity strategies in place. This year, Infosecurity Europe 2024 will continue to forge a future of innovation, collaboration, and resilience.”
The research also highlighted that for some, the tables had turned, with 15pc of IT decision-makers highlighting that their security budgets had decreased, or will, in 2024. A minor 4pc had seen or expect to see no change in their budget for 2024.
Meanwhile visitor registration for Infosecurity Europe 2024 has opened. The event will run from Tuesday to Thursday, June 4 to 6 at ExCeL in London Docklands. Visit https://www.infosecurityeurope.com/.
Picture by Mark Rowe: June 2023 show main conference stage.
