Hybrid work, demand for zero trust protection and a shift to the cloud are driving spending on information security and risk management in Thailand with the outlay expected to surge 11.4% to almost 15 billion baht this year, according to global research firm Gartner.
The country's growth rate is well above the 7.2% recorded at the global level.
"The pandemic accelerated hybrid work and the shift to the cloud, challenging the chief information security officer (CISO) to secure an increasingly distributed enterprise," said Ruggero Contu, senior director analyst of Gartner.
The modern CISO needs to focus on an expanding attack surface created by digital transformation initiatives, such as cloud adoption, the convergence of information and operation technology and Internet of Things (IoT), remote working and third-party infrastructure integration, he said.
Demand for technologies and services, such as cloud security, application security, zero trust network access (ZTNA) and threat intelligence, is surging to tackle new vulnerabilities and risks arising from the exposures, Mr Contu said.
According to Gartner, spending on information security and risk management in Thailand is expected to reach 14.9 billion baht in 2022, up 11.4% year-on-year. It is predicted to rise 11.8% to hit 16.7 billion baht in 2023.
In 2022, security services are the biggest segment for spending with an expected outlay of 5.6 billion baht, followed by infrastructure protection at 2.59 billion baht and network security equipment at 2.56 billion baht.
Spending on security services is forecast to rise 4.2% to hit 5.8 billion baht in 2023.
In 2022, the biggest growth segment in spending is cloud security with a 36.7% increase year-on-year to 518.5 million baht. It is expected to surge 33.8% year-on-year to 693.4 million baht in 2023.
The second biggest growth segment in spending in 2022 is integrated risk management with a surge of 31.4% year-on-year to 623.2 million baht. This segment is predicted to rise 29.7% to 808.1 million baht in 2023.
At the global level, the outlay on information security and risk management is expected to grow 7.2% year-on-year to US$169 billion in 2022 and rise 11.3% to $188 billion in 2023.
Security services, including consulting, hardware support, implementation and outsourced services, is the largest category of spending, at almost $72 billion in 2022, and it is expected to reach $76.5 billion in 2023.
Spending on cloud security is expected to be the biggest growth segment in 2022 and 2023 with a surge of 22% to $5.2 billion and a jump of 26.8% to $6.6 billion, respectively.
As organisations increase their focus on environmental, social, governance, third-party risk, cybersecurity risk and privacy risk, Gartner forecasts that the integrated risk management market will show double-digit growth through 2024, until greater competition results in cheaper solutions.
The outlay on network security equipment is expected to see 8.6% growth to $19 billion in 2022.
Gartner said ZTNA is the fastest-growing segment in network security. It is forecast to grow by 36% in 2022 and 31% in 2023, driven by the increased demand for zero trust protection for remote workers and organisations' reducing dependence on a virtual private network for secure access.
