Cybersecurity
Protecting information and keeping organisations running.
Organisations buy cybersecurity to keep factories running, hospital records available and payments under the control of authorised people. To protect those activities, identity tools manage access, network and device security detect suspicious behaviour, and encryption protects information. If an incident occurs despite those defences, response teams help contain it and restore operations.
Companies can provide this protection through software, specialist equipment or services run by security teams. The right approach depends on what needs protecting: an office network, for example, is different from older machinery in a factory. That leaves room for smaller businesses with knowledge of particular systems and customer needs.
Market size & opportunity
IDC’s outlook brings together spending on security software, hardware and services. The chart shows estimates and forecasts for that broad market. Behind the total are organisations deciding how to protect their operations and how much help they need to do it.
ENISA’s December 2025 survey provides one view of those budgets. Among 1,080 EU organisations, mostly large businesses in highly critical sectors, median security spending was €1.5 million. This is a sample of organisations rather than a European market total. Within such budgets, customers may choose between software that reduces specialist workload and a managed service that supplies the people to do the work.
Market outlook
Worldwide security spending
Worldwide · US$ billion per year
- 2026Estimate308
- 2029Forecast430
Both figures project spending across security software, hardware and services. A specialist serves only the categories that fit its products.
IDCForecast published
Recent progress
AI agents add a new access question: which systems should they enter, and what should they be allowed to do? In August 2026, Gartner forecast US$4.8 billion of worldwide spending on securing AI in 2027. This is a specialised part of the broader security market, reflecting the need to protect new ways of using software.
Alongside these new uses, Europe is changing how problems in digital products are reported. The EU Cyber Resilience Act’s reporting obligations began on 11 September 2026 for actively exploited vulnerabilities and severe incidents affecting covered products. The focus is on identifying and reporting security problems in the products people and organisations rely on.
Sources
- IDC · Worldwide security spending outlook, March 2026
- ENISA · NIS Investments 2025
- Gartner · Securing AI forecast, August 2026
- European Commission · Cyber Resilience Act reporting
Updated
Research & reports
IQM, Quantinuum and Creotech: getting to know Europe’s quantum computing industry
A quantum computer uses the behaviour of matter at very small scales to process information in a different way. Researchers are developing these machines to tackle certain problems that today’s computers struggle to solve.
European tech stocks in Q3 2026
Chipmaking equipment, maritime robots, satellites, cybersecurity and RNA editing. Five developments that offer a closer look at the businesses behind European tech stocks.