Cybersecurity buying researchForecast / projection
Information-security spending forecast
Worldwide information-security spending$244 billion for 2026; 11.6% constant-currency growth
Broad market context; not a US or midmarket estimate
Section 11 of 12 / Act
Market data and deal flow
Understand what market figures and transactions can—and cannot—tell a buyer.
12Pages
21Sources cited
20 October 2026Last updated
Market evidence, with its limits
A number is only useful with its scope.
These figures describe different markets, periods and units. They are not a comparable US midmarket dataset.
Forecast / projection
Securing-AI market forecast
Worldwide category described by GartnerAbout $4.8 billion for 2027; 68.7% growth forecast
A category-growth hypothesis; not total cybersecurity spend
Published observation
US information-security analyst employment
BLS occupational definition192,900 jobs in 2025
Employment baseline for that occupation
Forecast / projection
US analyst employment outlook
Ten-year occupational projection, including replacement openings21% growth, 2025–2035; about 14,100 annual openings
Long-run labor planning, not today's vacancies
Published observation
US cybersecurity job-posting volume
CyberSN/JobSpikr deduplicated posting dataset and role taxonomy235,786 in January–September 2026 vs 320,210 in the same 2025 period; down 26.4%
A defined hiring-activity signal; not purchases or unique hires
Scope and period stay attached to each figure. Forecasts are expectations, not observed outcomes; job postings are not purchases or unique hires.
Inspect the recent transactions →Scope and qualifications
Research cutoff: 20 October 2026. Geography: United States unless expressly stated.
The verified evidence supports a global spending forecast, US labor signals, a narrow public software price and several recent transactions. It does not establish a reliable US midmarket cybersecurity market size or a like-for-like MDR price distribution.
All amounts below are US dollars unless stated otherwise. Forecasts, observations, transaction accounting and editorial arithmetic are labeled separately. A large market or acquisition is not evidence that a particular service will deliver a financial return for the buyer.
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How large is the market, and what is growing?
Only Gartner's public abstract was used for the broad forecast; the full licensed forecast model was not reviewed.
What do incident volumes tell a buyer?
The 2026 Verizon DBIR executive summary reports ransomware in 48% of breaches in its dataset and third-party involvement in 48%.
What can we say honestly about prices?
Source for the numeric software price: Microsoft's US product page.
What do published salary ranges add?
The BLS May 2025 median is $129,180 for information-security analysts.
Which recent transactions should buyers know about?
The $32 billion figure in Google's March 2025 announcement was the announced agreement value, subject to adjustments.
What can we infer from deal flow?
The selected transactions show activity across cloud security, identity, industrial security, testing and managed operations.
How should the next market-data pass be designed?
Define the US segment before estimating it: employee range, sectors, included products/services, direct and channel purchases, and revenue recognition basis.
Frequently asked questions
No; Gartner's cited forecast is worldwide information-security spending for 2026.
Read →Gaps for the next research pass
No independently verified US midmarket market size estimate or representative MDR, vCISO, penetration testing or IR price distribution was established.…
Read →Buyer search language
US cybersecurity market size 2026; MDR pricing benchmarks; vCISO cost; penetration testing cost; cybersecurity acquisitions 2026; cybersecurity spending forecast; managed security deal flow.
Read →Research quality score
Figures retain dates, definitions and geographical limits, and transactions distinguish announced values from later disclosures.
Read →Sources
Sources and publication dates for Market data and deal flow. Undated product and job pages are observations at the research cutoff.
Read →Research self-assessment
Figures retain dates, definitions and geographical limits, and transactions distinguish announced values from later disclosures. Depth is constrained by the lack of a comparable US segment and pricing dataset.
Read the scoring context →9/10Buyer fit
8/10Depth
8/10Search terms
9/10Sources