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Posts tagged ‘AI in cybersecurity’

Jul 6

Gartner’s $248.9B security forecast makes securing AI the only segment accelerating through 2030

Gartner 2Q26 forecast, securing AI turns Other Security Software into the only accelerating segment, 16.3% to 20.1% by 2030

Gartner published its 2Q26 information security forecast on June 25. Worldwide spending reaches $248.9 billion in 2026, up 12.7% in constant currency, and hits $372.6 billion by 2030. The total is not the story. For the first time, Gartner is counting what enterprises spend to secure AI itself. Securing AI flips the only accelerating growth curve in Gartner’s forecast. It captures more new dollars than any other category. By 2029 it is the largest line item in enterprise security.

I’ve tracked this forecast through every quarterly update, and the 2026 projection keeps climbing. In March, I had it at $244.2 billion. The 1Q26 update raised it to $246.2 billion. Now it stands at $248.9 billion. Two upward revisions in one quarter. The second one changes what the forecast measures, not just what it totals.

Where securing AI landed in Gartner’s forecast

Gartner folded securing AI spending into its Other Security Software segment, which now grows from $15.6 billion in 2025 to $37.6 billion by 2030. One accounting decision reshaped the entire forecast.

Start with the growth curve. The 1Q26 version of this segment decelerated from 7.3% growth in 2026 down to 3.6% by 2030. With securing AI counted, the same segment accelerates from 16.3% to 20.1% across the same window. I ran all 41 categories in Gartner’s detailed forecast file. This is the only one whose annual growth rate increases every single year through 2030.

Then the size ranking flips. Endpoint protection platforms hold the top category spot through 2028 at $27.3 billion. In 2029, the securing AI segment passes them, $31.2 billion versus $30.1 billion. By 2030, the gap will widen to $37.6 billion against $33.0 billion. The largest line item in enterprise security will be one that Gartner’s 1Q26 forecast had growing at 5.1% a year. The 2Q26 forecast has the same segment compounding at 18.5%.

Gartner 2Q26 forecast, securing AI segment passes endpoint protection in 2029 at $31.2B vs $30.1B, reaching $37.6B by 2030

The 10 fastest-growing categories through 2030

The table ranks the 41 detailed categories underneath Gartner’s 11 headline segments by 2025 to 2030 CAGR in constant currency. Market sizes are in current U.S. dollars.

# Category (Parent Segment) 2025 ($B) 2030 ($B) CAGR New $ ($B)
1 Cloud Security Posture Management $4.7B $16.1B 27.6% $+11.5B
2 Cloud Access Security Brokers $2.2B $6.6B 24.3% $+4.4B
3 Cloud Workload Protection Platforms $5.9B $15.7B 21.0% $+9.8B
4 Zero Trust Network Access $2.4B $6.4B 20.9% $+4.0B
5 Threat Intelligence $2.5B $6.1B 19.0% $+3.6B
6 Consent and Preference Management $0.8B $2.0B 18.6% $+1.2B
7 Other Security Software (incl. securing AI) $15.6B $37.6B 18.5% $+21.9B
8 Network Detection and Response $2.2B $4.1B 12.4% $+1.9B
9 Subject Rights Request Automation $1.3B $2.3B 12.3% $+1.1B
10 Vulnerability Assessment $3.5B $6.4B 12.0% $+2.8B
Total information security market $218.2B $372.6B 10.7% $154.4B

Source: Gartner, Forecast: Information Security, Worldwide, 2024–2030, 2Q26 (G00855892, June 25, 2026). CAGR is computed from constant-currency values. Dollar figures in current U.S. dollars.

Gartner 2Q26 forecast, top 10 fastest growing security categories, CSPM leads at 27.6% CAGR, securing AI at 18.5%

Seven categories compound at 18.5% or better. The whole market runs at 10.7%. Then the ranking falls off a cliff to 12.4%. Cloud security posture management leads everything at 27.6%, growing from $4.7 billion to $16.1 billion. The three cloud security categories together triple to $38.4 billion by 2030, extending the run I flagged when cloud security led the 4Q25 update at 28.8%. Zero trust network access grows 2.65x to $6.4 billion while the category it replaces, network access control, falls 61% to $382 million. That is a migration, not a decline. NAC dollars are showing up in ZTNA line items instead.

I update this Top 10 ranking every quarter as Gartner releases new forecast data. Get the next one in your inbox.

Where the next $154 billion lands

The market adds $154.4 billion in new annual spending between 2025 and 2030. Six categories capture just under half of it. The securing AI segment takes $21.9 billion, more than any other line. Endpoint protection adds $14.6 billion. CSPM adds $11.5 billion. Firewall equipment, the legacy line everyone keeps writing off, adds $9.9 billion, the fourth most in the entire forecast. The other 35 categories fight over what remains.

Gartner 2Q26 forecast, securing AI captures $21.9B of $154.4B in new security spending through 2030, most of any category

The bottom of the table tells the same story from the other direction. Consumer security software crawls at 3.5%. User authentication grows 3.1% a year, the slowest line in identity, while IDPS shrinks 8.3% and NAC contracts 17.7% annually. The standalone products that anchored enterprise security budgets a decade ago are being folded into the platforms that grew up around them, and the consolidation story vendors have pitched for years is now visible in Gartner’s own numbers.

In my 1Q26 breakdown of the Top 10 fastest growers, the securing AI segment did not exist as a distinct growth driver. One quarter later, it leads every category in new dollars. That is how fast the forecast structure moved.

What these numbers add up to

Gartner now expects more than half of the overall security market to include AI by 2030. This update prices the other side of that trade for the first time. In March, I wrote that enterprises were spending 17x more on AI tools than on securing AI itself. The catch-up spend now has its own line in the forecast, and it is the only number in the entire table that keeps accelerating.

Gartner raised its 2030 total outlook by $19.5 billion. The securing AI segment accounts for $20.3 billion of that revision. Every other segment combined has a net cut of roughly $780 million. The money is moving, and it is moving in one direction.

Gartner’s 3Q26 forecast update lands in the fall, and I’ll break down whether the securing AI acceleration holds or whether Gartner revises the trajectory once early enterprise adoption data comes in. That update will also be the first to reflect a full year of post-inclusion spending data.

Jun 28

Why Securing Endpoints Is The Future Of Cybersecurity

Why Securing Endpoints Is The Future Of Cybersecurity

  • 86% of all breaches are financially motivated, where threat actors are after company financial data, intellectual property, health records, and customer identities that can be sold fast on the Dark Web.
  • 70% of breaches are perpetrated by external actors, making endpoint security a high priority in any cybersecurity strategy.
  •  55% of breaches originate from organized crime groups.
  • Attacks on Web apps accessed from endpoints were part of 43% of breaches, more than double the results from last year.

These and many other insights are from Verizon’s 2020 Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR), downloadable here (PDF, 119 pp. free, opt-in). One of the most-read and referenced data breach reports in cybersecurity, Verizon’s DBIR, is considered the definitive source of annual cybercrime statistics. Verizon expanded the scope of the report to include 16 industries this year, also providing break-outs for Asia-Pacific (APAC); Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA); Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC); and North America, Canada, and Bermuda, which Verizon says is experiencing more breaches (NA).

The study’s methodology is based on an analysis of a record total of 157,525 incidents. Of those, 32,002 met Verizon’s quality standards, and 3,950 were confirmed data breaches. The report is based on an analysis of those findings. Please see Appendix A for the methodology.

Key insights include the following:

  • Verizon’s DBIR reflects the stark reality that organized crime-funded cybercriminals are relentless in searching out unprotected endpoints and exploiting them for financial gain, which is why autonomous endpoints are a must-have today. After reading the 2020 Verizon DBIR, it’s clear that if organizations had more autonomous endpoints, many of the most costly breaches could be averted. Autonomous endpoints that can enforce compliance, control, automatically regenerating, and patching cybersecurity software while providing control and visibility is the cornerstone of cybersecurity’s future. For endpoint security to scale across every threat surface, the new hybrid remote workplace is creating an undeletable tether to every device as a must-have for achieving enterprise scale.
  • The lack of diligence around Asset Management is creating new threat surfaces as organizations often don’t know the current health, configurations, or locations of their systems and devices. Asset Management is a black hole in many organizations leading to partial at best efforts to protect every threat surface they have. What’s needed is more insightful data on the health of every device. There are several dashboards available, and one of the most insightful is from Absolute, called the Remote Work and Distance Learning Insights Center. An example of the dashboard shown below:
  • 85% of victims and subjects were in the same country, 56% were in the same state, and 35% were even in the same city based on FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) data. Cybercriminals are very opportunistic when it comes to attacking high-profile targets in their regions of the world. Concerted efforts of cybercriminals funded by organized crime look for the weakest threat surfaces to launch an attack on, and unprotected endpoints are their favorite target. What’s needed is more of a true endpoint resilience approach that is based on a real-time, unbreakable digital tether that ensures the security of every device and the apps and data it contains.
  • Cloud assets were involved in about 24% of breaches this year, while on-premises assets are still 70%. Ask any CISO what the most valuable lesson they learned from the pandemic has been so far, and chances are they’ll say they didn’t move to the cloud quickly enough. Cloud platforms enable CIOs and CISOs to provide a greater scale of applications for their workforces who are entirely remote and a higher security level. Digging deeper into this, cloud-based Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) provides invaluable real-time analysis, alerts, and deterrence of potential breaches. Today it’s the exceptional rather than the rule that CISOs prefer on-premise over cloud-based SIEM and endpoint security applications. Cloud-based endpoint platforms and the apps they support are the future of cybersecurity as all organizations now are either considering or adopting cloud-based cybersecurity strategies.
  • Over 80% of breaches within hacking involve brute force or the use of lost or stolen credentials. One of the most valuable insights from the Verizon DBIR is how high of a priority cybercriminals are placing on stealing personal and privileged access credentials. Shutting down potential breach attempts from stolen passwords involves keeping every endpoint completely up to date on software updates, monitoring aberrant activity, and knowing if anyone is attempting to change the configuration of a system as an administrator. By having an unbreakable digital tether to every device, greater control and real-time response to breach attempts are possible.

Conclusion

Autonomous endpoints that can self-heal and regenerate operating systems and configurations are the future of cybersecurity, a point that can be inferred from Verizon’s DBIR this year. While CIOs are more budget-focused than ever, CISOs are focused on how to anticipate and protect their enterprises from new, emerging threats. Closing the asset management gaps while securing every endpoint is a must-have to secure any business today. There are several cybersecurity companies offering endpoint security today. Based on customer interviews I’ve done, one of the clear leaders in endpoint resilience is Absolute Software, whose persistent-firmware technology allows them to self-heal their own agent, as well as any endpoint security control and productivity tool on any protected device such as their Resilience suite of applications.

Feb 23

How To Redefine The Future Of Fraud Prevention

How To Redefine The Future Of Fraud Prevention

Bottom Line: Redefining the future of fraud prevention starts by turning trust into an accelerator across every aspect of customer lifecycles, basing transactions on identity trust that leads to less friction and improved customer experiences.

Start By Turning Trust Into A Sales & Customer Experience Accelerator

AI and machine learning are proving to be very effective at finding anomalies in transactions and scoring, which are potentially the most fraudulent. Any suspicious transaction attempt leads to more work for buying customers to prove they are trustworthy. For banks, e-commerce sites, financial institutes, restaurants, retailers and many other online businesses, this regularly causes them to lose customers when a legitimate purchase is being made, and trusted customer is asked to verify their identity. Or worse, a false positive that turns away a good customer all together damages both that experience and brand reputation.

There’s a better way to solve the dilemma of deciding which transactions to accept or not. And it needs to start with finding a new way to establish identity trust so businesses can deliver better user experiences. Kount’s approach of using their Real-Time Identity Trust Network to calculate Identity Trust Levels in milliseconds reduces friction, blocks fraud, and delivers an improved user experience. Kount is capitalizing on their database that includes more than a decade of trust and fraud signals built across industries, geographies, and 32 billion annual interactions, combined with expertise in AI and machine learning to turn trust into a sales and customer experience multiplier.

How Real-Time AI Linking Leads To Real-Time Identity Trust Decisions

Design In Identity Trust So It’s The Foundation of Customer Experience

From an engineering and product design standpoint, the majority of fraud prevention providers are looking to make incremental gains in risk scoring to improve customer experiences. None, with the exception of Kount, are looking at the problem from a completely different perspective, which is how to quantify and scale identity trust. Kount’s engineering, product development, and product management teams are concentrating on how to use their AI and machine learning expertise to quantify real-time identity trust scores that drive better customer experiences across the spectrum of trust. The graphic below illustrates how Kount defines more personalized user experiences, which is indispensable in turning trust into an accelerator.

An Overview of Kount’s Technology Stack

How To Redefine The Future Of Fraud Prevention

Realize Trust Is the Most Powerful Revenue Multiplier There Is

Based on my conversations with several fraud prevention providers, they all agree that trust is the most powerful accelerator there is to reducing false positives, friction in transactions, and improving customer experiences. They all agree trust is the most powerful revenue multiplier they can deliver to their customers, helping them reduce fraud and increase sales. The challenge they all face is quantifying identity trust across the wide spectrum of transactions their customers need to fulfill every day.

Kount has taken a unique approach to identity trust that puts the customer at the center of the transactions, not just their transactions’ risk score. By capitalizing on the insights gained from their Identity Trust Global Network, Kount can use AI and machine learning algorithms to deliver personalized responses to transaction requests in milliseconds. Using both unsupervised and supervised machine learning algorithms and techniques, Kount can learn from every customer interaction, gaining new insights into how to fine-tune identity trust for every customer’s transaction.

In choosing to go in the direction of identity trust in its product strategy, Kount put user experiences at the core of their platform strategy. By combining adaptive fraud protection, personalized user experience, and advanced analytics, Kount can create a continuously learning system with the goal of fine-tuning identity trust for every transaction their customers receive. The following graphic explains their approach for bringing identity trust into the center of their platform:

Putting Customers & Their Experiences First Is Integral To Succeeding With Identity Trust

How To Redefine The Future Of Fraud Prevention

 

Improving customer experiences needs to be the cornerstone that drives all fraud prevention product and services road maps in 2020 and beyond. And while all fraud prevention providers are looking at how to reduce friction and improve customer experiences with fraud scoring AI-based techniques, their architectures and approaches aren’t going in the direction of identity trust. Kount’s approach is, and it’s noteworthy because it puts customer experiences at the center of their platform. How to redefine the future of fraud prevention needs to start by turning trust into a sales and customer experience accelerator, followed by designing in identity trust. Hence, it’s the foundation of all customer experiences. By combining the power of networked data and adaptive AI and machine learning, more digital businesses can turn trust into a revenue and customer experience multiplier.