India is one of the countries most affected by IT security threats. For example, RSA’s November 2012 Fraud Report ranked India as the third most targeted by phishing attacks globally. An earlier report from Symantec said that in 2011 in India the number of malicious attacks were up 81% – and that about half are hitting small and medium business enterprises (SMBs), which are often less well-defended.

PAC forecasts that the Indian IT security market will more than double over the next five years – a CAGR of around 16% – giving increased growth opportunities across different industries in the country. Since many enterprises are dependent on the latest technologies to enhance their competitiveness within both domestic and international markets, IT security is something that increasingly concerns them.

Traditionally the IT security market comprises the software, services and network security appliances used to secure enterprise and consumer IT equipment. India has witnessed rapid growth in Internet usage: while this has unwrapped multiple opportunities for country’s tech savvy citizens, it has simultaneously driven a rise in security threats.

Managed security services, secure Web gateway, and security information management are the fastest growing security segments. Cloud based IT security solutions are also in increasing demand, especially from SMBs. Organizations will continue to seek the expertise and help of security technology and service providers to curtail risks and reduce security weaknesses.

Major drivers that are contributing to the growth of the Indian IT security market include:

  • increased penetration of IT services in different verticals in India – especially in the telecom, banking and insurance industries;
  • competition within different industry levels;
  • increased awareness and takeup by SMBs;
  • hike in government spending in IT infrastructure within public sector units; and
  • the vulnerability of Indian IT infrastructure to hackers.

With increasing cyber-attacks and BYOD policies, Indian IT companies and other enterprises are ready for better security solutions as it is increasingly recognized most Indian business organizations lack best-in-class IT security infrastructure.

All these concerns and increasing security threats in the country have forced the Indian government to set up a National Cyber Security Architecture (NSA) to protect critical information infrastructure and other networks. The National Security Council (NSC) has approved the architecture which will involve in monitoring, certification and assurance of networks by designated agencies and bodies in accordance with the law. NSA will also protect critical information infrastructure and public networks with security status and will have ability to respond to events and threats. The goal is to prevent damage, surveillance and other forms of IT security attacks, which could hurt country’s information technology reputation.

PAC View:

PAC believes that technology adoption is moving much faster than security implementation for new technologies such as cloud computing, mobility, social media: security threats have developed within these emerging technologies and it should come as no surprise that mobile platforms and cloud services will be likely targets for attacks in coming years.

In future the security attacks will not limited only to information infrastructure and geographical boundaries but will be extended to exploitation of network interconnections and navigate through infrastructure. Security threats in India will further increase due to the absence of strict compliance regulations and laws in terms of IT security solutions as compared to other developed nations.

For more information on the global and local IT security markets, PAC subscribers are referred to the PAC Market Insight report “Security, the Key Enabler of the Digital World”. Post by Biswajit Banerjee