IDC's Worldwide Security Services Taxonomy, 2026

Description

This IDC study reflects a fundamental shift in the security services market as AI, agentic systems, and cloud-centric operating models redefine what must be protected, and how trust is established. Security services are expanding beyond traditional environments such as applications, endpoints, identities, and data to include AI models, prompts, agent workflows, training and inference data, tool integrations, and autonomous decision-making processes."As AI becomes both a powerful defender and a new source of risk, security services must evolve from protecting environments to continuously assuring trust in autonomous, nonhuman actors. The 2026 taxonomy reflects this shift, capturing how AI trust, agentic security operations, and cloud sovereignty are redefining the scope and value of security services worldwide," said Cathy Huang, senior research director, Worldwide Security Services at IDC. "Resilience emerges as a unifying outcome across security services too, ensuring organizations can anticipate, withstand, adapt to, and rapidly recover from disruptions across digital, physical, and AI-driven environments," Huang added.

Product Code: US53982726

IDC's Worldwide Security Services Taxonomy

Security Services Taxonomy Changes for 2026

Taxonomy overview
- Recognizing the impact of AI/agentic AI on security services
- Rise of cloud security governance and cloud sovereignty
- Hierarchical mapping: Security services primary/secondary markets

Definitions

Professional security services
- Cybersecurity consulting
  - Strategy and planning
  - Assessment and architecture services
  - Domain-specific consulting
- Incident management
  - Incident response
  - Incident readiness
    - Consulting
    - Assessments
    - Exercises/testing
    - Training
  - Forensics
- Integration
  - Implementation and integration
  - Deployment
- Training
- Governance, risk, and compliance
  - GRC consulting and assessment services
  - Cyberinsurance
Managed security services
- Managed detection and response
  - Pure-play MDR/MXDR
  - Managed EDR
  - Managed threat hunting
  - Managed SIEM
- Managed protection and controls
  - Managed security service edge
  - Managed network security
  - Managed endpoint security
  - Managed application security
  - Managed digital identity
- Managed security functions
  - Managed cloud security
  - Managed GRC
  - Managed data protection and governance
  - Managed vulnerability management
  - Managed cyber-recovery
Emerging cybersecurity services
- Managed SOC services
- AI bill of materials services