September 18, 2025

In today’s rapidly increasing digital and threat-prone environment, cybersecurity has come to be of utmost importance to organizations across all industries. As cyber attacks continue to get more sophisticated along with the evolving threat landscape, investing in the right cybersecurity technologies has become crucial for the organizations to ensure financial and operational resilience. Optiv’s Strategy and Risk Management team observed particular trends in our assessments and interviews between January 2024 and July 2025. The observations are based on 6000+ data points that are collected and analyzed within Optiv.

Analysis of Top Cyber Investments Based on Capabilities

Identity and Access Management (IAM):

Organizations operating in Energy and Utilities, Finance, Government and Public Sector and Industrial industries witnessed the highest total spend on IAM tools and technologies, including authentication/authorization, identity management and privileged access management (PAM), as compared to other security technologies.

Organizations have started to increase their adoption of Zero Trust architectures to battle the new-age threats that come with technology enhancements. IAM solutions help enforce least-privilege access and reduce the risk of credential-based attacks. Multi-factor authentication (MFA), PAM and identity governance enhance security while ensuring compliance with regulations like GDPR and PCI-DSS.

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Enhanced Network Protection:

As businesses continue to rely on digital infrastructure, cloud computing and remote work, it has become essential to strengthen network security to prevent cybersecurity breaches. Organizations across industries have continued to spend on network security tools and technologies to safeguard their sensitive data, ensure regulatory compliance and maintain business continuity against attack vectors.

Based on our observations, network security remains the top priority of organizations for the majority of the industries. While in 2023, organizations spent on an average 34% of their total investment on network security tools and technologies, the proportion has increased to 40% in 2024. Within network security, organizations have continued to prioritize boundary security, with 72% of the total investment in network security being allocated to it.

The below chart draws the comparison between 2023 and 2024 for network security tools and technologies spending across industries.

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Analysis of Top Cyber Investments Based on Industry

Industrial Ramps up Cybersecurity Investments:

As industrial operations are being digitized with the adoption of IoT, automation and cloud-based systems, they also become more susceptible to cyber threats such as ransomware, intellectual property theft and operational disruptions. High profile attacks on industrial control systems (ICS) and operational technology (OT) have highlighted the need for stronger security measures to protect against potential financial and safety risks. Additionally, stricter regulatory requirements and industry standards are pushing companies to invest in advanced cybersecurity solutions to safeguard their assets and ensure uninterrupted operations.

Elevated Cybersecurity Focus in Government and Public Sectors:

Government and Public Sector organizations have increased their investment in security operations technologies to combat the rising cyber threats, comply with stringent regulations and enhance operational resilience. In 2024, it was obeserved that organizations in the Government and Public Sector have increased their spending on security operations given the increasing prevalence of ransomware targeting local city and state governments.

Within the security operations tools and technologies, a major share of the investment is alloted to security event monitoring and vulnerability management.

The Healthcare Industry Continues to be Vigilant:

The Healthcare industry has continued to invest in data protection tools and technologies, with an increased focus on Data Loss Prevention (DLP) and secure messaging. The increasing adoption of cloud-based health systems and telemedicine has expanded the attack surface, making investments in robust data protection technologies crucial for safeguarding critical patient information and maintaining trust.

As per our observations, Healthcare organizations have invested 51% and 46%, respectively, on DLP and secure messaging tools and technologies out of the total spending made on data protection solutions in 2024.

What’s Next?

With the exponential growth in data, remote workforce and increasingly sophisticated cyber threats, traditional rule-based detection methods are no longer sufficient to protect enterprise environments. Attackers now employ advanced tactics that can easily bypass the signature-based systems.

In response to this evolving threat landscape, AI-driven threat detection tools have emerged as essential components of modern cybersecurity. These tools use machine learning and behavioral analytics to monitor large volumes of data, detect anomalies in real time and predict potential threats before they cause harm. This is particularly critical for financial services, healthcare, retail and technology sectors, where high data volumes and compliance requirements demand faster, smarter and more scalable security operations.

The convergence of IT and OT environments has significantly increased the attack surface for industrial organizations. Legacy control systems, once isolated, are now connected to enterprise networks to enable smart operations and real-time monitoring, making them vulnerable to cyberattacks. High-profile incidents targeting energy grids, manufacturing lines and water treatment plants have shown that cyber threats can cause not just data loss, but physical disruption and safety hazards. Operational Technology (OT) security tools provide visibility into industrial control networks, detect anomalous activity and ensure safe, uninterrupted operations. These tools are critical for sectors like energy, manufacturing and critical infrastructure, enabling organizations to maintain continuity, comply with regulations, and protect both productivity and public safety.