Gartner predicts Australian orgs to spend $7.5b on infosec in 2026

At this week’s Gartner Security & Risk Management Summit, Gartner has predicted that Australian organisations will spend more than $7.5 billion on information security in 2026, an increase of 9.5% from 2025.

“Despite an uncertain business environment, cybersecurity remains one of the top technology investment priorities for organisations in Australia this year,” said Richard Addiscott, VP Analyst at Gartner. “Persistent threat environments and the expanding use of AI — by both defenders and attackers — remain key growth drivers, as well as the continuing talent shortage in Australia and rising demands for cyber resilience.”

Gartner analysts are exploring how security and risk management leaders can advance their information security strategies this week at the Gartner Security & Risk Management Summit taking place in Sydney.

Gartner forecasts a 12.3% increase on security software spending in Australia to more than $3.3 billion in 2026. The rapid adoption of AI is triggering a spike in the cybersecurity resources required to secure it, with increased investments in security software markets like application security, data security and privacy, and infrastructure protection.

In addition, Gartner predicts over 75% of enterprises will be using AI-amplified cybersecurity products for most cybersecurity use cases by 2028, up from less than 25% in 2025. For example, security vendors are embedding AI-driven threat detection to identify suspicious activity in real time and using automated incident response to quickly contain breaches.

“The rapid adoption of AI-amplified security is transforming organisations, with some having already implemented these technologies and many piloting use cases,” Addiscott said. “GenAI tools are being deployed for cybersecurity, as security teams leveraging traditional security measures struggle to scale and keep pace with a constantly evolving threat environment. This approach is driving growth in specialised AI security solutions.”

Security services, including consulting, professional and managed security services, remains the largest end-user spending category in Australia. The market is forecast to reach more than $3.7 billion in 2026, an increase of 6.9% from 2025.

“This growth is fueled by a growing, and increasingly critical, need for AI-literate security personnel, which is amplifying the continuing cybersecurity talent shortage in Australia,” Addiscott said. “This is resulting in organisations needing to depend more on managed security service providers (MSSPs) to fill skill gaps and enhance their security capabilities.”

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