Cybersecurity revenues in the consumer goods sector are expected to grow from $3.9 billion in 2020 to $6.5 billion in 2025, according to GlobalData.

The leading data and analytics company indicated the surge in cybersecurity is due to accelerating digitalization, growing online purchases of consumer goods, and the normalization of remote working. These also double as all key contributors to the growing demand among consumer goods companies for cybersecurity products and services.

GlobalData’s latest report, ‘Cybersecurity in Consumer Goods– Thematic Research’, revealed that consumer goods companies have had to accelerate the digitalization of their business operations following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Rory Gopsill, Associate Analyst at GlobalData, said:

“As consumer goods companies are increasingly relying on digital devices and storing more consumer data, they are facing greater cybersecurity challenges. The need to remedy these new vulnerabilities is why cybersecurity revenues in the consumer goods sector are forecast to increase at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.6 per cent between 2020 and 2025.
Rory Gopsill

Times are Changing

Now more than ever, corporate strategy must consider cybersecurity, GlobalData noted. Executives of consumer goods companies must appoint a chief information security officer (CISO) and take their perspective seriously.

“Times are changing, and the consumer goods sector needs to keep up. Cybersecurity must now be baked into corporate strategy. However, none of the largest consumer goods companies have appointed a CISO to their board of directors.

“Moreover, many of these companies’ most recent materiality assessments seriously underestimate the importance of cybersecurity as an environmental, social and governance (ESG) issue. This suggests that the consumer goods sector does not yet appreciate the true strategic importance of cybersecurity.”
Rory Gopsill

Operational technology (OT) is a key vulnerability for the consumer goods sector. A large consumer goods company will have hundreds of thousands of OT assets ranging from assembly-line robots to programmable logic controllers, potentially spread across multiple continents. These will vary in vendor, model, age, and firmware version and, therefore, have different vulnerabilities.

This means simple solutions such as across-the-board patches and software updates will not secure OT networks. Consumer goods companies will need to invest heavily in securing industrial equipment that, in many cases, was designed and installed with relatively little emphasis on cybersecurity.

“Consumer goods companies need to do two things above all else. First, appoint a CISO to the board of directors (if this has not already been done). Second, invest in the cybersecurity of OT environments, which are increasingly attractive targets for threat actors.”
Rory Gopsill