According to Gartner, the worldwide technology and services security market is forecast to grow from $61.8 billion in 2012 to $67.2 billion in 2013 registering a growth of 8.7 per cent. The market would grow to more than $86 billion in 2016.
Ruggero Contu, research director, Gartner, says, “With security being one of the top concern areas for IT players, the prospect of strong continued growth of the security market is assured. The consistent increases in the complexity and volume of targeted attacks, coupled with the necessity of companies to address regulatory or compliance-related issues continue to support healthy growth in this space.”
As per the research firm, three trends would shape the security market, including mobile security, big data and advanced targeted attacks. Further, the “bring your own device” (BYOD) concept is a megatrend that will have a far-reaching effect on the security industry. An organisation’s requirement for managing security of data and networks with the adoption of BYOD would present significant business opportunities for technology service providers. Firstly, with the shift from device security to application/data security, these companies could possibly account for a share in endpoint protection budgets. Secondly, since some BYOD projects are centred on the productivity gains of one to two applications, there could be buying centres adding security outside of traditional information technology centres.
Gartner adds that over the next five years, the amount of data required for information security to effectively detect advanced attacks while supporting new business initiatives, will grow rapidly.
When examining the new methods being used to breach security controls, it can be distilled to a basic understanding that attackers, especially those who have significant financial motivation, have devised effective attack strategies centered on penetrating some of the most commonly deployed security controls (largely signature-based antivirus and signature-based intrusion prevention), most often by using custom or dynamically generated malware for the initial breach and data-gathering phase.
According to the research firm, advanced attackers are now capable of maintaining footholds inside an organisation once they successfully breach a company’s security controls. They breach the security of an organisation’s internal network either through the use of malware or through postmalware use of user credentials gathered during the period of time the malware was active.
Gartner suggests that to mitigate the attacks, an organisation would require an in-depth defence strategy across multiple security controls. The research firm recommends that organisations must continue to set the security bar higher, reaching beyond many of the existing security and compliance mandates in order to either prevent or detect the newly emergent attacks and persistent penetration strategies.
