IT security firms to reap gains from increasing Web attacks

[dhilipkumar]

IT security firms to reap gains from increasing Web attacks

Firms like Symantec, Quick Heal and Trend Micro are looking at riding the growth in the IT security sector as more and more enterprises are turning to these firms for solutions in view of increasing Web attacks.

India's IT security market, in the enterprise segment, is pegged at about USD 130 million, and research firm Frost and Sullivan (F&S) has estimated that it would grow at a CAGR of 19.21 per cent over the next few years.

"Currently, more than 50 per cent of our business comes from large corporations and we feel they are well equipped to handle such attacks. However, it is the small and medium businesses that needs a push," Trend Micro Country Manager (India) Amit Nath told media. According to F&S, a significant number of firms surveyed in India did not have any fixed budget for IT security and the procurement of IT security products was purely (crisis) demand based. Besides, adherence to safety standards was "abysmally low compared to other fast-growing economies globally".


"Web attacks are becoming more sophisticated, as hackers study all measures of prevention available in the market and make prepared measures non-effective," Quick Heal Technologies Chief Technology Officer Sanjay Katkar said. "Awareness of the latest trends in Web threats and active implementation of security policies are the only effective measure," Katkar added. Verticals like banking, finance and insurance, telecom and IT/ITeS are the highest spenders on IT security, according to the F&S study. While viruses, worms and trojans are major threats in today's IT environment, internal breaches by employees/former employees are equally worrisome. All that apart, "Cybercriminals today have evolved into an organised mafia, trading in stolen goods and services worth millions of dollars in an efficient online marketplace. A Symantec report reveals that the potential worth of goods advertised in the underground Web economy is a whopping USD 276 million," Symantec India Vice-President (Product Operations) Shantanu Ghosh said.

Agrees Nath, "The underworld malware market size has estimated to be USD 7 billion. These numbers speak volumes about the kind of financial losses such attacks bring in."

Along with financial gain from sale of valuable information, profits from one exploit are often re-invested and used for hiring developers for other scams, or to purchase new malicious code or phishing toolkits, Ghosh added. Symantec is now focusing on offering endpoint security measures to protect against zero-day attacks and even unknown threats.

indiatimes