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1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsIn 2019, Forrester forecast that global spending on cloud security tools would grow from $5.6 billion in 2018 to $12.6 billion by 2023. The target year has passed, but the available sources do not establish whether that forecast was reached: $12.6 billion is a projection, not a verified 2023 total.
What did the $12.6 billion forecast cover?
Forrester’s Cloud Security Solutions Forecast, 2018 to 2023, published April 1, 2019, was a global five-year market forecast. Its scope included three categories: cloud security gateways, also called cloud access security brokers (CASBs); cloud workload security solutions; and public-cloud-native platform security. Dark Reading’s contemporaneous report supplied the detailed figures and analyst comments; Forrester’s report record confirms the forecast’s date, global scope, and categories.
This was an estimate of spending on security capabilities across cloud services and workloads—not total cloud-computing expenditure, all cybersecurity spending, or the revenue of one vendor. Forecast market figures should also be read as estimates, not audited accounts of every company purchase.
What were the forecast’s main figures?
| Measure | 2018 baseline | 2023 forecast |
|---|---|---|
| Cloud security tools overall | $5.6 billion | $12.6 billion |
| Public-cloud-native platform security | $4 billion; reported as over 70% of all cloud-security-tools spending | $9.7 billion |
| Cloud workload security tools | No comparable baseline stated in the coverage | 17.3% forecast annual growth; no segment total stated in the coverage |
Figures and growth expectations are from Forrester’s forecast as reported by Dark Reading in 2019. The coverage also described a 20% annual growth expectation for public-cloud-native platform security, but did not state the exact period for that rate. These are forecast expectations, not observed annual growth or confirmed outcomes.
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Why did public-cloud-native security stand out?
At $4 billion in the 2018 baseline, public-cloud-native platform security was the largest segment described in the coverage, accounting for over 70% of all cloud-security-tools spending. Forrester projected it would reach $9.7 billion by 2023. The category included capabilities such as data categorization and segmentation; server and resource access controls; identity and role-based access control; encryption at rest and in transit; key management; logging; and anomaly detection.
The forecast reflected the growing importance of securing resources within public-cloud environments, alongside demand for tools that could protect workloads across cloud platforms. Dark Reading reported Forrester analyst Jennifer Adams saying, “This is a huge change from what we’ve seen previously,” in reference to the rapid growth of public-cloud-native platform security.
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What did adoption data show at the time?
Dark Reading reported that, in Forrester’s 2019 account, 54% of infrastructure decision-makers had implemented or were expanding public-cloud use, compared with 25% in 2015. Those figures describe adoption reported at the time; they are not a current measure. The coverage also quoted Adams: “There’s more and more of a sensitivity that if data is personal, it needs to be kept private,” citing penalties from regulations such as GDPR. That is a 2019 analyst remark, not a present-day survey result.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Was $12.6 billion actually spent in 2023?
The available sources do not establish a realized 2023 total comparable to Forrester’s $12.6 billion forecast. Forrester’s accessible report record confirms the forecast and its categories, while Dark Reading’s 2019 coverage reports the detailed projections; neither provides a like-for-like actual 2023 result. Forrester’s February 2025 global technology forecast noted cybersecurity and cloud solutions among drivers of global technology spending, but it did not validate this specific cloud-security-tools projection.
A later figure would only answer the question if it matched the forecast’s global geography, 2023 target year, category boundaries, and measure of spending. Vendor revenue, a survey estimate, a broader cybersecurity market total, or overall technology spending would not by itself show whether the $12.6 billion forecast was met.
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