South Africa's IT security solutions spend is expected to grow from $451 million (R5.8 billion) to $634 million (R8.2 billion) between 2015 and 2020.
This is according to a regional study by security solutions vendor Sophos, carried out in SA and the Middle East.
The report indicates the majority of organisations in Middle East and Africa (MEA) are recognising the benefits of integrated security, especially the concept of linking network firewall and endpoint security for better insights.
However, it reveals that although MEA organisations were unlikely to increase the number of vendors they interact with, they were likely to increase the number of products in use, which highlights organisations in the region do not tend to follow an integrated strategy when it comes to security.
The Sophos-sponsored InfoBrief Synchronised Security Market Analysis - MEA, developed by IDC, reveals the MEA countries represented a total security solutions market potential of nearly $1.89 billion in 2015, which is expected to increase at a CAGR of 8.1% to a total of $1.94 billion in 2020, and the largest market is SA with 23.9% share of the total in 2015.
In terms of IT priorities, IT security ranked highest in SA, followed by reduction in overall IT costs. Malware detection and prevention were the next most prevalent solutions, being more widespread in Turkey (85%) and SA (78%), while it was low in the UAE (40%).
In terms of security appliance penetration, almost half (40%) of South African respondents stated they planned to invest in unified threat management appliances. While 42% of MEA companies have high confidence in their security posture, some firms, especially in Saudi Arabia (3%) and SA (5%), are not confident at all.
"IT security is a top priority for companies in this region as it can impact uptime and overall service levels. In terms of plans to deploy, there is a major focus on end-to-end coverage with advanced security systems, making it apparent that respondents want to simplify and improve control over securing their organisation's assets," says Harish Chib, Sophos VP for MEA.
"This is followed by plans to deploy mobile device security and cloud-specific security solutions. MEA's mobile device proliferation is among the highest in the world, making it important to secure devices and content on devices. Increased deployment of private and public cloud services makes it critical for organisations to integrate security as a part of their cloud strategy."
Chib notes it is clear from the responses that in addition to threat landscape complexity, organisations do not have a holistic strategy when it comes to deploying their security solutions.
"With the increase in sophisticated attacks across the region, companies are now looking for smarter and simpler IT security solutions. The majority of respondents across all four countries agreed with the concept of linking network firewall and endpoint security for better insights. The acceptance is higher among larger enterprise. Synchronised security is the new key for protection against cyber threats," Chib adds.
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