Data security should be at the core of any business, public institution, and individual’s operations due to data’s sensitive nature.
In the recent past, data security has become a hot topic on the back of increased threat actor activity seeking to access, distort or disseminate unauthorized data.
So, I spent 20+ man-hours researching relevant and actionable data security numbers, presented below.
Top 7 Data Security Statistics (Editor’s Pick)
- In 2023, 86.6% of companies face a skilled data security personnel shortage.
- 4 in 10 (39%) American data security analysts were female as of April 2023.
- By 2026, the big data security market is expected to reach $28.2 billion.
- The global data security market was valued at $26,852.5 million in 2022.
- In 2021, global data security spending reached $3,193 million.
- The European Union GDPR law became enforceable on May 25, 2018.
- As of November 2022, 97.1% of data security leaders engaged directly with their organization’s board of directors.
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General Data Security Statistics
1. In 2023, 86.6% of companies face a skilled data security personnel shortage.
In 2022, this figure stood at 84.1%, 87% in 2021, 84.8% in 2020, and 84.2% in 2019.
2. In 2022, organizations were satisfied (4.04) with the security of their data stores.
On a scale of 1-5 (where 5 was the most secure and 1 was least secure), companies ranked server security (4.15) at the top, followed by cloud infrastructure (4.15) and cloud applications (4.14).
3. US data/Information security analysts will increase by 35% between 2021 and 2031.
This translates to approximately 19,500 new data security jobs every year during this period.

4. By 2025, 45% of global data requiring protection will be unprotected.
While 42% of global data requiring protection will have it, the remainder will be data that do not need protection.
Data Security Status | 2010 | 2015 | 2020 | 2025 |
---|---|---|---|---|
No security required | 46% | 51% | 33% | 13% |
Requires security (protected) | 25% | 24% | 32% | 42% |
Requires security (unprotected) | 29% | 25% | 35% | 45% |
Data Security Career Statistics
5. 49.3% of data security professionals in 2022 took extra professional training to expand their data security knowledge.
Increased credibility and respect (47.7%) was next on the list of motivations, followed by improved job satisfaction (44.6%), more employment opportunities (42.8%), and increased compensation (36%).
6. About 4 in 10 (40.1%) organizations face a data/information security administrator shortage in 2023.
This is a reduction from 40.5% of companies in these shoes in 2022.
Data Security Professional | Shortage in 2023 | Shortage in 2022 |
---|---|---|
Data security administrator | 40.1% | 40.5% |
Data security engineer/architect | 35.6% | 32.4% |
Data security analyst | 35.5% | 33.2% |
Application security tester | 26.8% | 28.5% |
Data security/compliance auditor | 26.6% | 28.6% |
Devsecops Engineer | 26.6% | 28% |
Risk/fraud analyst | 25.7% | 24% |
Data Security Demographics Statistics
7. As of April 6, 2023, California ($99,799) was the highest-paying US state for data security analysts.
Oregon ($93,294) was next, followed by Washington ($91,473/year), New Jersey ($89,321/year), New York ($88,825/year), and Pennsylvania ($88,214).
8. 4 in 10 (39%) American data security analysts were female as of April 2023.
While 61% were male.
9. The number of US female data security analysts increased in 2021.
In 2020, 38.73% of US data security analysts were female, which increased to 39.04% in 2021.
10. As of April 2023, approximately 6 in 10 (65.7%) American data security analysts were White.
Asians (9.6%) were next, followed by black Americans (9.2%), Latinos (9.0%), American Indians (0.4%), and others (6.1%).
11. As of April 2023, the average male American data analysts were 42 years old.
That is compared to the 47 years average age for white American female data analysts in the same period.
Race | Male | Female |
---|---|---|
White | 42 years | 47 years |
African American | 43 years | 44.5 years |
Asian | 39 years | 41 years |
Hispanic/Latino | 41 years | 37 years |
12. The number of White American data security analysts reduced between 2019 and 2021.
In 2019, 73% of US data security analysts were White, which declined to 67% in 2020, then 66% in 2021.
Data Security Market Statistics
13. By 2026, the big data security market is expected to reach $28.2 billion.
The market is expected to grow at a 10.3% CAGR between 2021 and 2026.
14. The global data security market was valued at $26,852.5 million in 2022.
The market is expected to grow at an 18.03% CAGR reaching $72,595.28 million by 2028.
15. The information/data security products and services market reached $172.5 billion in 2022.
This figure was lower in 2021 ($150.41 billion) and 2020 ($133.678 billion).
16. The data security market is projected to grow at a 13.6% CAGR between 2023 and 2028.

Data Security Financial Statistics
17. 15.5% of organizations plan to increase their data security budgets by 10% or more in 2023.
In comparison, 55.3% of organizations plan to increase their data security budgets by 5%-9%.
The table below shows the percentage of organizations that planned to increase their data security budgets in 2021, 2022, and 2023 according to a survey of 1200 IT professionals.
Year | Over 10% Increase | 5%-9% Increase | Less Than 5% Increase |
---|---|---|---|
2021 | 13.8% | 42.3% | 21.7% |
2022 | 16.4% | 45.8% | 21.0% |
2023 | 15.5% | 21.0% | 16.9% |
18. As of April 2022, US data security analysts earned an average of $87,446 annually.
This translated to $42.04 per hour.
19. The median annual pay for US data security analysts was $102,600 as of May 2021.
20. Organizations across 17 countries plan to increase their annual data security budgets by 5.3% in 2023.
This represents an increase from 4.6% in 2022 and 4.0% in 2021.
21. In 2021, global data security spending reached $3,193 million.
This figure grew to 3,500 million in 2022 and is expected to reach $3,997 million by 2023, representing a 14.2% growth from 2022.
22. Approximately 8 in 10 (87.7%) organizations had rising data security budgets in 2023.
That is compared to 83.2% in 2022, 77.8% in 2021, and 85.4% in 2020, according to a study of organizations across 17 countries.
Data Security Laws
23. The European Union GDPR law became enforceable on May 25, 2018.
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a strict data privacy and protection law that levies harsh penalties on entities and individuals who violate European data laws.
24. Brazil enacted a General Data Protection Law (LGPD) on August 16, 2020.
This law consolidated 40 Brazilian data protection laws centered around protecting Brazilian user data. The LGDP focuses on respect for privacy, freedom of expression, information self-determination, etc.
Data Security Statistics by Industry
25. The Finance industry will have the highest (6.0%) average data security spending increase in 2023.
Manufacturing (5.9%) is next, followed by Retail (5.5%), Healthcare (5.3%), and Government (5.0%), according to a survey of 19 major industries across 17 countries.
26. 98.6% of telecom and technology companies, the most of any other sector, had unified their application and data security by 2022.
Retail (98.4%) closely followed, while Finance (95.0%), Manufacturing (94.9%), and Healthcare (93.2%) sectors rounded up the top five.
Data Security Statistics in Organizations
27. In 2022, improved cloud security (voted by 49.1%) was the biggest gain for firms using a unified data security approach.
Enhanced security incident investigations (46.1%) were next, followed by simplified security rules management (43.7%), improved customer support (40.8%), and fewer third-party integrations to manage (34.2%).
28. Over 6 in 10 (60.6%) organizations used API gateway/protection for application and data security in 2023.
60.1% of firms used database firewalls and web application firewalls (55.4%) during the same period, according to a study of 1200 IT professionals across 17 countries and 19 industries.
Application & Data Security Solutions | Currently in Use | Plan to Use | Have No Plans to Use |
---|---|---|---|
API gateway/ protection | 60.6% | 30.9% | 8.5% |
Database firewall | 60.1% | 29.0% | 10.9% |
Web Application Firewall (WAF) | 55.4% | 35.8% | 8.8% |
Database Activity Monitoring (DAM) | 51.7% | 36.1% | 12.2% |
29. As of November 2022, most (97.1%) data security leaders engaged directly with their organization's board of directors.
That is compared to 2.9% of data security leaders who did not directly engage with their firm’s board of directors, according to a survey of 1200 data security professionals.

30. Most data security leaders (50.7%) provided regular (monthly, quarterly, or annual) cyber risk assessments to their board of directors in 2022.
A further 45.5% provided cyberthreat quantification/scorecard access to board members, while 43.1% participated in cyber risk assessment meetings chaired by other board members, according to data from 1200 IT professionals.
31. In 2022, 83% of companies' Board of Directors (BOD) recommended increasing data security staff.
That was compared to 76% in 2021. Additionally, 85% of BODs managing 5000+ staff companies recommended increasing data security staff.
Data Security Solutions Statistics
32. About half (51.4%) of surveyed organizations in 2022 used disk encryption for endpoint data security.
A further 36.7% of firms planned to acquire this technology in the next 12 months, while 11.9% had yet to make plans to purchase this technology any time soon.
33. Multi-Factor Authentification was the most common zero-trust data security measure used by 42.3% of organizations in 2022.
This was followed by Endpoint Detection and Response (41.8%), HTTP Traffic Encryption (35.6%), and Privileged Access Management (32.9%) in the top five places.
34. 45.3% of companies, as of November 2022, deployed Zero Network Access (ZTNA).
A further 43.5% of organizations deployed hardware-based/firmware security and risk-based vulnerability management (39.7%).
Emerging Data Security Technology | In Production | Ongoing Implementation | Implementation Starting Soon | No Plans |
---|---|---|---|---|
Zero trust network access | 45.3% | 31.4% | 15.7% | 7.7% |
Hardware-based/firmware security | 43.5% | 35.1% | 14.3% | 7.1% |
Risk-based vulnerability management | 39.7% | 36.2% | 16.8% | 7.4% |
Passwordless authentication | 39.3% | 31.1% | 17.8% | 11.8% |
35. In 2022, 56.1% of organizations used Data loss/leak prevention (DLP) for endpoint security.
In contrast, 32.4% of surveyed organizations planned to acquire this technology in the next 12 months, while 11.5% had no plans to use this technology.
Secure Your Data
Data security is a trending topic due to the high global internet penetration rates.
Despite the concerted efforts from different online players to secure the online space, rogue players continue making this space risky.
For further insights on the topic, read our detailed cybersecurity statistics piece to better understand data security’s importance in today’s internet-reliant world.
- Data Security Analyst Salary (April 2023) – Zippia
- Data Security Analyst Demographics and Statistics [2023]: Number Of Data Security Analysts In The US (zippia.com)
- Critical cybersecurity areas worldwide 2023 | Statista
- Actual status of data security worldwide 2010-2025 | Statista
- Information Security Analysts : Occupational Outlook Handbook: : U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (bls.gov)
- Data Security Market Size 2023-2028: Top Countries Data Analysis by Sales Volume and CAGR Status – MarketWatch
- What is GDPR, the EU’s new data protection law? – GDPR.eu
- Gartner Identifies Three Factors Influencing Growth in Security Spending
- Big Data Security Market Research Report: Market size, Industry outlook, Market Forecast, Demand Analysis, Market Share, Market Report 2021-2026 (industryarc.com)
- Data Security Market Size & Share Analysis – Industry Research Report – Growth Trends (mordorintelligence.com)
- Information security market revenue worldwide 2022 | Statista
- LGPD: An overview of Brazil’s General Data Protection Law (usercentrics.com)
- Global information security spending by segment 2023 | Statista
- Cyberthreat Defense Report | (ISC)² (isc2.org)
- https://www.fortinet.com/content/dam/fortinet/assets/reports/2023-cybersecurity-skills-gap-report.pdf
- Cyberthreat Defense Report 2023 – CyberEdge Group (cyber-edge.com)