By 2015, 10% of enterprise-class security products will be delivered in the cloud

By 2015, 10% of its IT enterprise-class security offerings will be delivered through cloud services, according to Gartner. These services will also drive market changes, particularly in key security technology areas, including secure messaging and security gateways, as well as identity and access Management (IAM) for remote vulnerability assessments. Gartner predicts that the market for cloud-based security services will reach 4.2 billion dollars by 2016.

"Buyers of cloud security services are so high that they need these services to address staff or skills shortages, reduce costs or quickly follow safety rules," said Eric Ahlm, Gartner research director. "The change in buying behavior from the traditional internal devices to cloud mode, the technology and service provider opportunities, and those who can not provide security services through cloud computing should be with the times, adapt to competition." ”

The demand for cloud security services is high, according to a Gartner survey of security spending in January 2013. Customer groups from the US and Europe represent the cross-section of industry and company size, suggesting they are planning to increase the number of common cloud services purchases over the next 12 months. The most expensive cloud security service is the Mail Security Service, with 74% of respondents giving the "most wanted" service.

In addition, 27% per cent of respondents said they were considering a tokenization deployment of cloud services. Gartner believes that the standard compliance measures for the PCI DSS are driving the development of licensing services. As a service, the licensing technology to avoid security services buyers to save personal identity information (PII) or other private information. This service allows the enterprise to remove the token system from the PCI-compliant scope. Thus eliminating the pressure to regulate the environment.

Another area where high growth is likely to occur is "security information and event Management (SIEM) as a service." This is largely attributable to concerns about regulatory compliance and the need for customers to reduce log management, compliance reporting, and security incident monitoring costs. However, many enterprise customers are still uneasy about sending sensitive log information to the cloud, which is an important issue that SaaS service providers are addressing.

"The overall customer demand for cloud security services is huge, which brings opportunities for cloud service agents," Ahlm said. "As companies put more assets into the cloud and they need multiple security services to connect multiple cloud or cloud security services to a mix of internal security products, their demand for proxy services is also highlighted." ”

Gartner recommends that value-added retailer (VAR) supplement the product structure with cloud-based alternatives, with a view to reducing operating costs for major customers, thereby increasing the time the customer uses the service. Value-added retailers may have a downside if they fail to provide a cloud-based alternative, as customers will instead buy cloud-based solutions.

Simplified deployment and technical maintenance can reduce costs directly for cloud control buyers. Based on the benefits of cloud security, customers who purchase cloud security services may reduce hardware or software procurement and deployment requirements. They can budget by operating expenses rather than capital expenditure. In addition, cloud controls can provide more real-time protection and sometimes avoid complex and expensive upgrades.

"The value that cloud services bring to consumers of security services can be measured in terms of capital and reduced operating costs," Ahlm said. "Vendors who can now only provide security services by deploying hardware/software solutions should develop product roadmap so that they can guide customers to cloud security on their own initiative." ”

(Responsible editor: Fumingli)