End-user spending on security and risk management in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is forecast to total $2.6 billion in 2022, an increase of 11.2% from 2021, according to Gartner, Inc.

Gartner analysts are discussing how security leaders in the region can secure the future, manage risks and build resiliency at the Gartner Security & Risk Management Summit, taking place virtually in the Middle East through Tuesday.

“Cyber-attacks have become more sophisticated over the last two years, and the MENA region is not immune,” said Shailendra Upadhyay, principal research analyst at Gartner. “The malicious nature of the attacks has forced security leaders in the region to relook at their security strategy and increase their security and risk management spending to make their businesses future-ready.”

In 2022, end-user spending is forecast to increase in all segments of information security and risk management. Cloud security is forecast to record the highest growth at 33.8%, followed by data security, growing 21.9% (see Table 1.) The region’s strategic focus on public cloud growth, intended to smoothen its shift to a ‘data-driven economy’ from an ‘oil-exporting economy’ will contribute to the fast growth of these segments.

Table 1: Security and Risk Management End User Spending for All Segments in MENA, 2020-2023 (Millions of U.S. Dollars)

Source: Gartner (February 2022)

“The identity and access management (IAM) market will continue to grow in the long term as organizations become more aware of the criticality of identity controls within their larger security architecture. Growth in cloud computing has shifted security from perimeter-based approaches to identity context-based approaches. This, and other longer-term growth drivers, such as identity being foundational to digital business transformation and optimization initiatives and compliance and regulatory pressures, should continue to propel demand for IAM solutions,” said Upadhyay.

COVID-19 accelerated digital transformation and SaaS adoption, which are the primary growth drivers for the cloud access security broker (CASB) market. As organizations look to support remote workers and continue to adopt and expand SaaS usage, CASB will be one of the key products addressing the need. The CASB market will continue to grow through 2023, and the convergence toward secure access service edge (SASE) will capture some of the growth starting around 2024 onward.

Gartner clients can read more in the report "Forecast: Information Security and Risk Management, Worldwide, 2019-2025, 4Q21 Update."

Learn about the top priorities for security leaders in 2022 in the 2022 Leadership Vision for Security & Risk Management Leaders.

About the Gartner Security & Risk Management Summit

The Gartner Security and Risk Management Summit 2022 provides analysis on the latest security trends and how to manage risk and build resiliency. Follow news coming from the conference on the Gartner Newsroom and on Twitter using #GartnerSEC.

Upcoming dates and locations for the Gartner Security & Risk Management Summit include:

March 7-8 in India,

June 7-10 in National Harbor, MD.

June 21-22 in Sydney

July 25-27 in Tokyo

September 12-14 in London

About the Gartner Information Technology Practice

Gartner for Information Technology Executives provides actionable, objective insight to CIOs and IT leaders to help them drive their organizations through digital transformation and lead business growth. Additional information is available at www.gartner.com/en/information-technology.

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