The cyber security market in the Middle East is expected to hit $55.73 billion in revenues by 2026. This translates to a CAGR of 22.5 percent till 2026, according to an HTF Market Intelligence report.
An increase in the process of digitisation has led to an increased risk of cyber threats and investments made by organisations in this area is driving the market.
According to a report titled ‘Middle East Cyber Security by Security Types (Wireless, Cloud Network, and Application), Services (Consulting, Managed Security and Integration), Solutions (IAM, IDS, UTM, DLP, DDoS and others), Verticals, Countries and Competitive, Trends and Forecasts, 2021-2026’, cyber security has become a major problem for various organisations and they have been increasing their budgets on cyber security/products/ solution and other areas to reduce this issue and protect their data.
The government, BFSI, energy & utilities organisations are at an increased risk in this region and are targeted more by cyber attackers. The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region has become the main target area for cyber-attacks due to the strategic and economic significance of this region. In the GCC region, the government, BFSI and education sectors are the most targeted areas by the cyber attackers.
The report further added that the Middle East cyber security market is based on five segments, mainly, security types, solutions, services, verticals and countries.
The security segment is analysed based on cloud security, wireless security, network security and application security.
Cloud security is said to be one of the most important factors in organisations and the adoption of it helps the organisations in reducing capital expenditure, increasing productivity, business agility, and data protection.
The revenue of the cloud security market is expected to reach $20.20 million by 2026.
This service segment is analysed based on consulting service, managed by security service and integration service, the service market revenue is expected to reach $34.37 billion by 2026.
Market Drivers
The major factors driving the threat of cyberattacks in the Middle East & African region are the growing vulnerabilities in digital communications networks and supply chains, growth in the user base of online consumers, and most of all, the deficient cybersecurity infrastructure.
Traditionally, the Middle East has never been a significant target for cyberattacks. Regions like North America and Europe have always been the most affected by cyber threats.
But in recent times, rapid digitalization in countries like the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia has triggered the number of connected devices, opening new gateways for cyberattacks.
The increase in the demand for digital technology and mobile applications by private and public industries in the Middle countries has created huge business opportunities for cyber security vendors.
Billions of investment have been made in the cyber security products from the enterprises making this region an attractive destination for expansion of business.
The BFSI and Energy & Utilities industry are going to contribute about 34 percent of the market share for the Middle East cyber security market in 2021.
The Education and Transportation & Logistics verticals are emerging verticals for the Middle East cyber security market growth in the coming years, the report added.
The IoE and IoT technologies are encouraging the industry players to offer a better and wide range of services to their customers and improve their experience.
Digital technology is being considered as the new business strategy for increased revenue growth and presence across the globe. More organisations will adopt digital technology in the near future which will directly impact the cyber security market, according to the report.
Local and international banks in the UAE are sharing information to reduce cyberattacks. Banks in the Gulf have invested millions of dollars for boosting cybersecurity systems to prevent cyber-attacks.
In 2017, the UAE Banks Federation partnered with US-based Anomali (IT Security Company) to create the Information Sharing and Analysis Center, the first such initiative in the Middle East.
