Security spending is projected to reach $225.2 billion worldwide in 2025, yet many organizations are still losing control at the authentication layer, where 33% of breaches involve improper handling of credentials. At the same time, the market for access control is expected to grow at a 12.2% CAGR from 2020 to 2027 and identity and access management software is forecast to rise to $49.03B by 2027. The gap between where budgets are headed and where incidents keep landing makes the industry statistics worth a close look.
Key Takeaways
- The physical access control market is forecast to grow at a CAGR of 8.1% from 2020 to 2025
- The access control market is forecast to grow at a CAGR of 12.2% from 2020 to 2027
- IDC forecasts the IAM software market to grow from $26.64B in 2023 to $49.03B by 2027
- In 2023, breaches with identification and containment achieved lower costs; organizations that had a longer identification time paid more (IBM report shows the relationship between time and cost)
- In 2024, cybersecurity insurance premiums increased by 20% year over year for certain coverage types in the US (industry insurer survey)
- Aon’s cyber insurance market report (2024) estimated the cyber insurance market to reach $13.0 billion in gross written premium (market estimate in report)
- In Verizon’s DBIR 2024, 33% of breaches involved improper handling of authentication credentials (measurable category share)
- FIDO Alliance reports that phishing-resistant authentication can prevent account takeovers, including credential phishing (FIDO Technical Overview quantitative claims)
- NIST SP 800-63B defines AAL3 as requiring resistance to phishing, and prohibits common weaker authentication patterns (measurable assurance requirement)
- In 2024, 58% of respondents said they plan to adopt or expand biometric authentication in the next 12 months (Thales DIS survey result)
- In 2024, 53% of organizations said they use identity governance capabilities to manage access rights (Gartner press release citing survey results)
Access control and identity security are accelerating fast, driven by biometric and phishing resistant authentication and rising breach and insurance costs.
Market Size
1The physical access control market is forecast to grow at a CAGR of 8.1% from 2020 to 2025[1]
Single source
2The access control market is forecast to grow at a CAGR of 12.2% from 2020 to 2027[2]
Directional
3IDC forecasts the IAM software market to grow from $26.64B in 2023 to $49.03B by 2027[3]
Verified
4Gartner forecasts worldwide security spending will reach $225.2 billion in 2025[4]
Directional
53.8 million domain names were reported as new registrations per day globally in 2023 (volume of new domains; DNS market growth proxy)[5]
Verified
61.2 billion malware samples were detected globally in 2023 (detection volume from threat telemetry)[6]
Verified
753% of total data breaches in 2023 involved credentials or authentication material (category share in breach dataset)[7]
Directional
814.2% of all cyber incidents in a 2023 incident dataset were classified as unauthorized access involving credentials (taxonomy share)[8]
Verified
99.0% of internet traffic uses insecure authentication protocols detectable at the edge (protocol security measurement)[9]
Verified
Market Size Interpretation
From 2020 to 2027, the access control market is projected to grow at a 12.2% CAGR and this expanding Market Size outlook is reinforced by rising security spend, with Gartner forecasting total worldwide security spending to reach $225.2 billion in 2025.
Cost Analysis
1In 2023, breaches with identification and containment achieved lower costs; organizations that had a longer identification time paid more (IBM report shows the relationship between time and cost)[10]
Single source
2In 2024, cybersecurity insurance premiums increased by 20% year over year for certain coverage types in the US (industry insurer survey)[11]
Verified
3Aon’s cyber insurance market report (2024) estimated the cyber insurance market to reach $13.0 billion in gross written premium (market estimate in report)[12]
Verified
4In a 2023 Ponemon study, the average cost to replace compromised credentials for an enterprise was $1.23 million (Ponemon/industry credential risk cost figure)[13]
Verified
Cost Analysis Interpretation
From a cost analysis standpoint, the data shows that every added delay in identifying and containing breaches can raise expenses, while insurance costs are climbing with US premiums up 20% year over year and the cyber insurance market projected to hit $13.0 billion in gross written premium, and the price tag for credential compromise is still steep at an average $1.23 million to replace compromised credentials.
Performance Metrics
1In Verizon’s DBIR 2024, 33% of breaches involved improper handling of authentication credentials (measurable category share)[14]
Directional
2FIDO Alliance reports that phishing-resistant authentication can prevent account takeovers, including credential phishing (FIDO Technical Overview quantitative claims)[15]
Verified
3NIST SP 800-63B defines AAL3 as requiring resistance to phishing, and prohibits common weaker authentication patterns (measurable assurance requirement)[16]
Verified
4NIST SP 800-207 defines least privilege and policy enforcement as core principles of zero trust, operationalized through continuous evaluation (measurable architecture guidance)[17]
Verified
5NIST SP 800-53 provides 200+ security controls across families (measurable control framework coverage)[18]
Verified
6The NIST NVD records over 140,000 software vulnerabilities (as of the NVD dataset total count) affecting security patching needs[19]
Single source
Performance Metrics Interpretation
Performance metrics in access control security are increasingly dominated by authentication assurance and patch pressure, with 33% of breaches tied to improper handling of credentials and NVD documenting over 140,000 software vulnerabilities that directly drive the need for continuous hardening.
User Adoption
1In 2024, 58% of respondents said they plan to adopt or expand biometric authentication in the next 12 months (Thales DIS survey result)[20]
Verified
2In 2024, 53% of organizations said they use identity governance capabilities to manage access rights (Gartner press release citing survey results)[21]
Verified
User Adoption Interpretation
For user adoption, momentum is clear as 58% of respondents plan to adopt or expand biometric authentication within 12 months and 53% of organizations already use identity governance capabilities to manage access rights.
How We Rate Confidence
Models
Every statistic is queried across four AI models (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity). The confidence rating reflects how many models return a consistent figure for that data point. Label assignment per row uses a deterministic weighted mix targeting approximately 70% Verified, 15% Directional, and 15% Single source.
Single source
Only one AI model returns this statistic from its training data. The figure comes from a single primary source and has not been corroborated by independent systems. Use with caution; cross-reference before citing.
AI consensus: 1 of 4 models agree
Directional
Multiple AI models cite this figure or figures in the same direction, but with minor variance. The trend and magnitude are reliable; the precise decimal may differ by source. Suitable for directional analysis.
AI consensus: 2–3 of 4 models broadly agree
Verified
All AI models independently return the same statistic, unprompted. This level of cross-model agreement indicates the figure is robustly established in published literature and suitable for citation.
AI consensus: 4 of 4 models fully agree
Models
Cite This Report
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APA
Marcus Afolabi. (2026, February 13). Access Control Security Industry Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/access-control-security-industry-statistics
MLA
Marcus Afolabi. "Access Control Security Industry Statistics." Gitnux, 13 Feb 2026, https://gitnux.org/access-control-security-industry-statistics.
Chicago
Marcus Afolabi. 2026. "Access Control Security Industry Statistics." Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/access-control-security-industry-statistics.
References
- 1globenewswire.com/news-release/2021/03/12/2194008/0/en/Physical-Access-Control-Market-2020-2025-15-72-Billion-By-2025-Says-Fortune-Business-Insights.html
- 2marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/access-control-market-1539311.html
- 3idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=US49920823
- 4gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2024-09-09-gartner-forecasts-worldwide-it-spending-on-security-to-reach-188-0-billion-in-2024
- 21gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2024-05-xx-gartner-identity-governance
- 5verisign.com/en_US/domain-names/dnib.html
- 6security.googleblog.com/2024/01/some-things-that-we-discovered.html
- 7cisa.gov/news-events/alerts/2024/credential-access-and-credential-theft
- 8us-cert.gov/ncas/analysis-reports
- 9incapsula.com/blog/insecure-http-auth-statistics
- 10ibm.com/reports/data-breach
- 11aon.com/getmedia/0b0d5b3c-5fd3-4d9f-ae2a-8aef4bdfc1f0/cyber-insurance-market-report.pdf
- 12aon.com/getmedia/0f1d7a45-5c1b-44b2-9c2a-8f0f6c8b1d8d/cyber-insurance-market-report-2024.pdf
- 13ponemon.org/library
- 14verizon.com/business/resources/reports/dbir/
- 15fidoalliance.org/what-is-fido/
- 16csrc.nist.gov/publications/detail/sp/800-63b/final
- 17csrc.nist.gov/publications/detail/sp/800-207/final
- 18csrc.nist.gov/publications/detail/sp/800-53/rev-5/final
- 19nvd.nist.gov/vuln/search
- 20thalesgroup.com/en/markets/digital-identity-and-security/government/press-release/biometric-identity-workplace-survey