The IT security industry is a changing market with new mobile devices coming in; which cyber criminals have identified as an opportunity to unleash their attacks.
This is according to Frost and Sullivan senior consultant, James Brehm, who was the keynote speaker at the recent Cyberoam Partner Summit in Athens.
Brehm said not enough is being done by IT to secure mobile devices from Trojans and malware, provide security training and introduce governance and compliance policies.
“If security was the Soccer World Cup, then in terms of security maturity, organisations have not even reached the kids' football stages yet.”
According to Brehm, the security industry still has a long way to go. “The biggest challenges within the IT security industry, is dealing with a changing market of new devices and new ways of accessing information.”
Mobile threats
Brehm said the biggest threats that will start to hit businesses this year will be mobile threats, following the mounting roll-out of smartphones and tablet devices.
He said, generally, not enough is being done by businesses, device manufacturers and Internet service providers to address these growing mobile threats such as malware and data loss prevention.
“Last year, over 15 million iPads were sold. This is an opportunity for cyber criminals and we will start seeing them target these mobile devices.”
He added: “During the economic meltdown, investment in training was the first area that was hit and next was marketing and advertising. In order to be competitive, companies are going to need to start making investments again in security training as well as research and development.”
Brehm explained that the majority of businesses require new skills for cloud computing, and yet those skills are not being met on a global scale. In addition, one third of businesses have no formal security policy for cloud computing and mobile devices.
“About 80% of mobile devices this year will have WiFi connectivity and it's important for organisations to have policies for mobile devices coming into their facilities.”
He added that more companies (44%) are using social media tools to run their business; which opens organisations up to security vulnerabilities.
UTM sees growth
Brehm said total market revenues for unified threat management (UTM) appliances, which is said to be a $2 billion global industry, are expected to shift towards the enterprise market as UTM improves in functionality and reliability.
“UTM demand in the Africa and Middle East (MEA) market is strong and is outpacing that of Europe. MEA is currently experiencing growth at a 35% CAGR.”
He pointed out SA and Turkey are similar markets in terms of UTM revenue growth and the two countries are seeing a fast adoption.
“The UTM market in MEA is worth $143 million, or 7% of the global market. The region was originally late to adopt UTM with the biggest hindrance being the lack of ability to pay for the technology.”
Brehm said that there's going to be a lot of consolidation in the UTM market in the near-future, with the bigger security organisations acquiring the smaller niche players.
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