Category: Security

Cisco Systems overtook Check Point Software as market leader in the burgeoning VPN sector in 2003, with both companies ahead of third place Netscreen. Worldwide VPN and firewall appliance and software revenues rose to $2.4 bln in 2003, up 13% from 2002.

About two in three people surveyed use fewer than five passwords, while more than 10% use only one password for everything. About 65% of respondents said that they themselves were “very responsible” for protecting their identities, while 53% felt it was the job of the bank or the financial institution concerned. To a lesser degree, they said that level of responsibility fell to law enforcement agencies (29%), the federal government (27%) and merchants (24%). The survey allowed more than one response. The study found that the number of consumers unwilling to share personal information with online retailers rose from 35% last year to 44% this year. Of the 64% of respondents who considered themselves “more informed” about identity theft issues compared with a year ago, nearly half said they don’t consider themselves any safer, and one-quarter said they felt more vulnerable.

A survey by the National Hi-Tech Crime Unit found 83% of UK companies have been the victims of computer crime. The vast majority, 77%, were virus attacks and, on average, companies face 254 assaults from malicious programs every year.

mi2g Intelligence Unit data shows that partially as a result of the growth of the MyDoom family of malware, lingering effects of Mimail, Dumaru, Sobig, Swen, Klez, Sober, Yaha, BugBear and Fizzer, and also as a result of new strains of Bagle, February 2004 has already become the worst month for malware proliferation on record with 10 days to go. As of today, the total economic damage from all malware epidemics in February is estimated to lie between $43.8 bln and $53.6 bln worldwide, two thirds more than the record breaking previous month of January.

Global spending on firewall and virtual private network (VPN) technology will double over the next three years to reach almost $6 bln in 2007. Secure Socket Layer (SSL) VPNs will be the fastest growing segment of the market. Datamonitor’s report Firewall and VPN solutions forecasts that home working and the push for mobility/anywhere-anytime access for workers will see enterprise investment in Secure Socket Layer (SSL) VPNs grow 74% a year between 2003-2007. Datamonitor estimates that the SSL VPN market will rise from $120 mln in 2003 to just over $1 bln in 2007.

Gartner estimated that 3.4% of Americans – or more than 7 million people – had their personal information compromised in 2003.

Within wireless security, there are three addressable markets:
Wireless Infrastructure Security, Wireless Device Security and Wireless
LAN security. Together these segments are poised to reach $8.4 billion by 2008.

IDC forecasts the corporate personal firewall software market to grow at a higher rate than both the consumer personal firewall and enterprise network firewall markets with a 21.7% compound annual growth rate from 2002-2007.

Sales of high-end security appliances have surged in Q3 2003 as enterprises install them in their main networks, having seen lower-end devices prove themselves in branch offices, according to the latest figures from analyst firm IDC. Companies are also waking up to the fact that security appliances can be much easier to manage than software. Some 20% of these cost over $25,000, compared to just 10% in Q2, according to IDC’s figures.

Cisco and NetScreen continue to dominate the market for security appliances, said IDC, and both companies have seen revenue growth of over 20% compared to the same period last year. Of the big players, Nokia has fared the worst, losing market share both in terms of units and revenue. While it is now number two for revenue, with 15.1% of the market, it is comes fifth in unit shipments, with only 6.8% of the market, behind Cisco (27.7%), NetScreen (20.8%), SonicWall (13.2%), and WatchGuard (12.1%). Western Europe now accounts for a quarter of security appliance sales, with 43,303 units generating $97.2m worth of shipments in Western Europe during the quarter. The market grew 22% in Q3 2003 against the third quarter of 2002.

The latest research from Meta Group projects the firewall market to grow at a 25% annual growth rate until 2005, as companies continue to add the technology.

The Australian IP VPN market is predicted to reach $855 mil by 2007, according to research from market analyst IDC. The analyst?s ?Australian IP VPN Services and Equipment Forecast and Analysis, 2002-2007? found that the total IP VPN market is expected to grow by at least $100 mil every year over the next five years.

Spending on security solutions including software, hardware and services in the region, excluding Japan, is estimated to hit 1.7 bil dollars this year and grow 25% yearly to 4.1 bil dollars in 2007, IT research house IDC said in a statement.

Today, nearly half of all securities transactions are still paper-based and 40% of securities institutions manually enter data at least twice for the same transaction. In fact, more than half of these institutions still rely on manual methods such as facsimile, telephone or email to complete transactions, according to a recent report by Gartner G2.

IDC expects spending on security and business continuity worldwide to grow twice as fast as IT spending over the next several years, surpassing $116 billion by 2007.

Companies now get hacked, on average, 30 times a week, with 15 percent of attacks resulting in system entry. For the first three months of this year, more than 42,000 attacks were reported to CERT monitors. And that’s only a partial reading: The FBI says just one in five attacks are reported, thanks to reluctance on the part of companies to broadcast security failings to customers and shareholders. Worse yet? The new viruses are becoming more sophisticated: Slammer scanned more than 55 million computer systems per second, 100 times faster than the previous Code Red virus, says Allan Paller, director of research at the SANs Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based security information center.