COVID crisis led to A/NZ security spending spike

Australian and New Zealand businesses spent an additional 10–20% than expected on cybersecurity in 2020 due to the impact of COVID-19, according to IDC.

The research firm estimates that cybersecurity spending increased during the year despite organisations cutting spending in many areas due to the impact of the pandemic.

Cybersecurity is expected to remain a key area of focus in 2021, with nearly half of businesses in both markets indicating that they will make information and data protection and control a top priority, and roughly 45% of businesses in Australia and 35% in New Zealand planning to make security and vulnerability management a top priority.

Other priority areas will be home network security for remote workers, identity and access management, and threat intelligence security services, IDC predicts.

“The shift to new models of working drives a crucial need to invest in security measures to enable these remote and hybrid working environments. IDC research found that 98% of A/NZ organisations rated workplace security as an important capability in enabling business/operational continuity through the pandemic,” IDC Associate Market Analyst for A/NZ IT Services Emily Lynch said.

“Many of these businesses intend to invest further in their cybersecurity over the next 1–2 years, with remote access needs and accelerating secure innovation the main drivers of this growth.”

But Lynch warned that organisations must plan more carefully for the long road to recovery from the pandemic.

“The increased complexity of IT environments because of the pandemic is a turning point for organisations’ data security strategies. Many organisations lack a long-term security investment roadmap that is recalibrated after the upheaval of 2020,” she said.

“Resolving poorly configured solutions and rushed deployments will be a near-term focus point as businesses look to reset strategy for the coming year.”

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