Smart grid investments to grow global ICS security market

Metering.com 29 AUGUST 2016

According to a new report, the increased adoption of smart grid solutions is expected to drive the global industrial control systems security market through to 2020.

The ICS security market is expected to grow by 9% between 2015 and 2020.

The US is expected to dominate the market. The region is expected to exceed investments of $4 billion in technologies such as SCADA and cybersecurity.

Bharat Kanniappan, automation researcher at Technavio, said: “The rising cyber-attacks on critical infrastructure are leading to the high adoption of ICS security solutions in various industries, particularly energy, utilities, chemicals, and manufacturing. These strategic attacks disrupt industrial activities for monetary, political or social gains, and competitive or even personal grievance.”

According to research firm Technavio, the growth of the ICS security market in the US will primarily be driven by increased collaboration between industrial automation service providers and IT security firms. The partnerships will focus on improving existing and new technologies to line them up with demands brought about by rising industrial connectivity and remote access.

Last year, the region had 39% of market share.

Utilities in South America will play a significant role towards the growth of the ICS security market as they will increase their investments to secure their grid networks.

The region is expected to invest $38 billion between 2015 and 2025.

Governments in South America are also expected to implement policies pushing utilities to invest in securing power networks against cyber attacks. Such developments will further boost growth of the ICS security market.

The Asia-Pacific region is expected to have the fastest growing ICS security market. The market in the region is predicted to grow by 12%.

“Developing economies, such as India and China, have experienced tremendous growth in power demand due to population growth, growing economy, and increasing rates of industrial development. These investments along with the increased level of security concerns will enhance the implementation of ICS security in the industrial sector,” reiterated Bharath.

Cybersecurity investments in Europe

The news follows the launch of a report stating that cybersecurity will dominate EU utilities’ IT spend in 2016.

The report issued in January by market research company IDC Energy Insights analysed western European utilities’ IT investment priorities to improve operations.

In a press statement, IDC said the study sought to track how Western European utilities plan to invest in Enterprise and Line-of-Business (LOB) solutions including asset management, billing, customer care, cybersecurity, meter data management, supply chain management and network automation. [EU signs MoU for R&D in cybersecurity].

The report findings reveal that cybersecurity in Western Europe is the highest IT solution area of investment for utilities in 2016 specifically data loss and leakage prevention, mobile security, and cloud security.