The worldwide provider of network security appliances Fortinet remains cautiously optimistic about the overall network security market for Malaysia in 2013. Cloud and mobile will continue to be high on the list of priorities as enterprises in Asia and Malaysia continue to adopt these technologies. The rise in advanced persistent threats (APTs) and distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks reported around the world is also driving local enterprises to take greater measures to raise IT security.
According to George Chang, Fortinet’s regional director of Southeast Asia and Hong Kong, security remains critical to the survival of businesses in Malaysia. He said Fortinet will see more SMBs breaking out of their traditional apathy to respond to these concerns next year. Some of them are purchasing new network security solutions while others are subscribing to managed security services from service providers, Chang added.
Another market driver is the rise of BYOD (Bring-your-own-device). Mobile device ownership in Malaysia is currently among the highest in the region. The rapid inflow of consumer-owned smartphones and tablets is also causing significant security challenges for many organizations. More and more employees are using their personal tablets and smartphones to access the corporate network for work. IT consumerization represents an increasing risk to enterprises’ information security.
Fortinet expects more organizations to deploy security solutions on their network to enforce policies and controls around what the client, data, and user can do or access. With the enactment of Personal Data Protection Act, local financial institutions and telecommunications service providers are also compelled to re-assess their enterprise security needs and infrastructure.
According to market researcher Frost & Sullivan, Malaysia’s network security market is expected to experience strong growth in the coming years, with CAGR predicted to hit 12.6% during 2012 to 2018 reaching a total market size of USD 126.8 million (RM388 million) in 2018.
The top five technology trends in the security arena to watch out in 2013 are:
- Increased organised attacks and targeted attacks such as advanced persistent threats (APTs)
- The rise of insider threats
- Increased leveraging of social engineering and social networking
- The emergence of mobile botnets
- Easier access to crimeware tools and providers
To deal with this plethora of threats, firms need a comprehensive but nonetheless manageable defence-in-depth approach to their security in order to regain visibility and control over their data. Other trends spurring ICT security adoption in Malaysia include data centre virtualization, cloud computing and enterprise mobility.
