Application security market to reach $22.655 billion by 2026

The application security market is projected to witness a CAGR of 22.38% during the forecast period to reach a market size of $22.655 billion by 2026, increasing from $5.511 billion in 2019, according to ResearchAndMarkets.

Since the advent of e-commerce over two decades ago, retailers have come into contact with more information about their customers and can collect this information. Businesses that engage in retail and e-commerce manage large volumes of sensitive information, including credit card numbers and personal data.

Hackers are increasingly targeting this data, which makes it more important to protect it. Due to the proliferation of connected devices including kiosks, point-of-sale (POS) systems, and handheld devices in physical stores, a vast amount of customer information has been generated.

Software applications and services are evolving to deal with these threats so that retail businesses can keep their networks, data, applications, and endpoints secure (from malware or breaches). Cyber-attacks have caused huge revenue losses at nearly one out of three retailers, according to the Cisco 2017 Annual Cyber Security Report.

Many enterprises leave thousands of applications susceptible because they do not extend their applications beyond business-critical functions, such as payment processing or ordering goods and services. Updates of unused, non-business-critical applications are not performed frequently enough, resulting in problems.

Small and medium-sized businesses believe investing in these applications will be detrimental. This is because unutilized applications can lead to long-term security threats since they can be cracked easily and gain access to the IT infrastructure, irrespective of whether they are business-critical or rarely used. The application security market has been restrained by budget constraints and ROI.