Palo Alto Networks, Cisco, and Fortinet led a surging cybersecurity market that swelled 15.9% during the third quarter to $17.8 billion, according to research firm Canalys.

The firm named Palo Alto Networks as the top vendor in the quarter with an 8.4% market share, which was a significant 24.9% year-over-year increase. Cisco secured 6.9% market share at the end of Q3, which was 16.7% higher than the previous year. Fortinet was No. 3 with 6.7% market share, which Canalys reported as nearly 30% higher than the vendor's market share in 2021.

Canalys’ report also showed endpoint security was the fastest-growing category in the market, with segment revenue surging 18.7% year over year to $2.7 billion. Network security was the largest category, representing $5.1 billion in market value and 14.8% growth year over year.

North America remained the largest security market in Q3 with $9.6 billion in sales and accounting for 53.8% of global spending. It was also the fastest-growing market with a 17.1% annual growth rate. Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) was a distant second with a $5.2 billion market value and a 15% growth rate.

Asia-Pacific (APAC) market sales reached $2.4 billion in the quarter and the Latin America market grew 23.1% year over year to around $600 million, according to Canalys.

“Many cybersecurity vendors have shifted toward subscription-led business models, which also helped to shield them from the immediate impact of the economic slowdown,” Canalys Chief Analyst Matthew Ball, said in a statement. “The move to subscription-based platforms and increased focus on upselling existing accounts will sustain revenue growth for cybersecurity vendors over the next 12 months.”

Canalys found channel sales represented 90.6% of the overall security market in Q3, with the remaining done directly with customers. Channel sales growth also outperformed direct sales with a 15.9% growth rate.

The firm surveyed 393 channel representatives between November 21 and 9 December 9, and found those channel partners express positively about the opportunities in the security market.

The survey also showed that 27% of the respondents anticipated their security revenue to increase more than 20% in 2023, with the same amount expecting growth between 11% and 20%.