The Security Industry Association (SIA) has released the 2024 version of its annual publication, Security Megatrends.

The organization highlights that the report was compiled using insights from independent research, surveys, focus groups and top sessions at the Securing New Ground (SNG) conference.

Included in the report is analysis of the ten top trends affecting security industry businesses and practitioners.

Also presented is a forecast for the security industry’s future.

SIA says that one of the findings from the report revealed that there is no trend larger or more impactful to the security industry than artificial intelligence (AI), but this trend is so vast and multifaceted that it is split into four components that are trends unto themselves.

Additionally, the trends of workforce development, a cloud model for technology delivery, cybersecurity, global tensions, supply chain assurance, changing economic conditions and sustainability are now so much part of the fabric of the world that they are viewed no longer as future-looking megatrends, but instead as foundational trends: common concerns that all business leaders must manage as they operate within the security industry.

In addition to the rankings, the full report provides data and statistics on such topics as autonomous devices, quantum computing and post-quantum cryptography, elimination or reduction of physical credentials and more data points that help tell the story of today’s industry and forecast where the industry will be tomorrow.

2024 security megatrends

SIA claims that the 2024 security megatrends are:

1. AI: security of AI
2. AI: visual intelligence, not video surveillance
3. AI: generative AI
4. AI: regulation of AI
5. Expansion and evolution of security’s return on investment
6. Evolution of the integration business model
7. Security as a service
8. Impact of the megatech companies
9. Real estate reoptimization
10. IT-OT convergence

In addition to the rankings, key insights in the 2024 SIA Security Megatrends report include:

• How changing economic conditions and security as a service change security industry business models
• The blessings and curses of generative AI and the technology’s impact on companies’ business and product strategies
• Addressing concerns related to trust, ethical application and cybersecurity of AI
• How the camera’s expanding role as the ultimate sensor creates opportunity and disruption
• Regulations to watch that could impact security businesses

You can download the Security Megatrends report here.