South Africa’s cyber security services market is expected to reach R16.5 billion by 2029, with the financial services sector showing strong demand, says BMIT.
This comes amid the rise of cyber crime attacks on the local front, which has seen the country become the most targeted for infostealer and ransomware attacks.
The local market analyst firm’s latest SA Cyber Security Services Reportestimates the increase to be at a compound annual growth of 20.3% from 2023.
BMIT MD Chris Geerdts says many companies are reluctant to increase their security budgets even as attacks increase in frequency, sophistication and impact.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is now commonly used for cyber security attacks, and threat agents are also targeting AI applications. Conversely, BMIT has seen the human factor become increasingly important at three levels: company staff, leadership teams and technical staff.
Says BMIT: “The human element remains a primary attack vector, underscoring the vital need for consistent cyber security awareness training. AI is becoming increasingly sophisticated in finding ways to exploit human behaviour and therefore circumvent cyber defences.
“The sophistication of cyber attacks overall is also growing, with AI-driven disinformation, deepfakes and infostealers now becoming prevalent, often bypassing multi-factor authentication.
“This shift extends to ransomware tactics, which are evolving from mere encryption to pure data exfiltration and extortion, making them harder to detect.”
Evolving threat landscape
South Africa’s financial losses due to cyber attacks have been estimated at R2.2 billion a year, although the figure is likely to be “bigger now”, according to Dr Jabu Mtsweni, the CSIR’s head of the Information and Cyber Security Centre.
The average cost of a data breach incident for a South African organisation is calculated at R44.1 million, based on the IBM 2025 Cost of a Data Breach Report.
Further, recent data shows local businesses are especially vulnerable to cyber attacks due to internal threats such as infrastructure vulnerabilities and the skills shortage.
BMIT says the local services market appears somewhat fragmented, with an estimated 2 500 entities claiming cyber security expertise in SA. The issue is compounded by the severe local and international shortage of staff who have appropriate cyber security skills and experience.
It points out that many organisations are responding by turning to managed security services as a solution to address skill gaps and manage complexity without the overhead of building full in-house capabilities.
Automation and AI are also helping to transform daily security operations, enhancing efficiency and threat detection, easing the burden on human analysts, according to BMIT.
Furthermore, the widespread adoption of cloud environments and the shift towards zero-trust network access are compelling businesses to re-evaluate their security postures for dispersed IT footprints.
The report notes that endpoint security has the highest growth forecast in cyber security technologies, projected at 15.5% compounded annual growth from 2023 to 2029.
“Looking ahead, the rapid andoften unmonitored adoption of AI – what is being called ‘shadow AI’ – hasemerged as a key risk factor. It is now displacing the long-standing issue of security skills shortages as one of the top three factors amplifying the cost of a breach.
“Attackers are leveraging AI for increasingly sophisticated attacks, including large language model hijacking within cloud environments.”
A report by audit and consulting firm Deloitte highlights that generative AI has the potential to magnify the nature and scope of fraud against financial institutions and their customers.
It says financial services firms are particularly concerned about generative AI fraud that accesses client accounts, with deepfake incidents increasing 700% in fintech in 2023.
BMIT states that cyber security is no longer just an IT concern, noting it as a critical business imperative.
The firm concludes that savvy organisations will move beyond mere ‘tick-box’ compliance, to truly integrating robust security measures that protect assets, maintain trust and foster resilience.
Share