Critical Infrastructure Security, Network Security, Security Strategy, Plan, Budget

Gartner sees 11 percent software security revenue jump

Thanks to compliance requirements and a threat environment marked by growing sophistication, sellers of software security products are expected to earn more than $16.5 billion in revenue this year, an 11.3 percent jump from 2009, according to a Gartner forecast released this week.

The sector is thriving, despite the ongoing economic downturn, because products have matured and successfully penetrated the marketplace, according to Gartner, which released its predictions on Tuesday. In addition, organizations have more confidence in IT offerings, and the need for such products exists across an array of verticals and geographies.

Compliance mandates and the elaborate threat landscape are the primary motivators for consumers and organizations to purchase security products, according to Gartner.

"The growing sophistication of the threat landscape — with malware composed of multiple components that can be installed after the initial infection and the exploits of socially engineered trojans, which trick end users into downloading and executing malicious files — will push organizations and consumers to invest in endpoint security products in coming years," said Matthew Cheung, senior research analyst at Gartner.

The most popular products to help organizations meet compliance are user provisioning, security information and event management and mobile data protection, according to Gartner.

Meanwhile, software-as-a-service will continue to push past on-premise software as the preferred delivery model, the analyst firm found. SaaS solutions most commonly deployed are related to web security and identity and access management (IAM).

The IAM product category continues to be a hot spot, with organizations dedicating eight percent of their security budgets to the technology. Gartner estimates that the IAM market will exceed $12 billion in value by 2014.

Get daily email updates

SC Media's daily must-read of the most current and pressing daily news

By clicking the Subscribe button below, you agree to SC Media Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.