Software security market continues to thrive
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Sales of antivirus software are continuing to drive the software security market forward, according to analyst group Gartner.
Figures recently released by Gartner demonstrated strong growth of 14.8% in the worldwide security market, with total revenue equalling $7.5 billion in 2005. Antivirus software accounted for 54.3% of the total security software sector, with revenue equating to $4 billion in 2005.
Symantec continued to dominate the total security software market, with 32.2% of the pie. McAfee was in second place, followed in third by Trend Micro, with 12.4% and 8.5% market share respectively. Symantec also experienced the greatest growth at 14.6%
A key driver pushing the market forward is compliance, particularly within the security information and event management (SIEM) market, which grew by over 29% in 2005 to reach more than $281 million. Compliance is also driving growth in the user provisioning segment, which grew 19.7% to reach $753.3 million.
Elsewhere the fastest growing area was email security boundary software, which grew 34.2% with revenue of $393.9 million in 2005. This accounted for 7.1% of the overall security software industry.
Analysts at Gartner predict that the industry will see a shift towards converged security suites, and away from standalone products such as anti-spyware, signature-based anti-virus products and personal firewalls. Gartner says that vendors will have to include more functionality at a lower price in order to survive in the competitive landscape.
'Insider' security threat remains
While the majority of senior managers (80%) are aware of the security risk posed by people working within their company, only 43% have backed security precautions to tackle the threat of outbound information leaks.
According to the Information Security report from research and analysis body Aberdeen Group, 72% of companies consider the passing on of confidential information a medium or high threat, yet only 25% have implemented message encryption solutions.
Aberdeen Group recommends updating current security policies by ensuring that all staff are aware of and understand a clear set of security policies and practices. It also recommends that companies calculate the impact and cost of a security or compliance failure.
