BYOD trapped in a red box

DUBAI, UAE: According to Frost & Sullivan, consumerisation of smart phones and Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) are the biggest trends driving network security issues in the Middle East today. The network security market is in a high-growth stage. Frost & Sullivan anticipates that technology convergence, regulatory compliance, and continuous growth of network infrastructure will continue to drive up sales for security suppliers in the Middle East during the period 2012-2018.

With an increase in the number of Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs), information security risks are becoming a major concern for organisations globally.

Enterprises are swiftly adopting and deploying applications and new services to combat the same. In their quest to obtain high levels of security assurance and develop advanced intelligence technologies, organisations in the Middle East are increasingly adopting methods such as virtualisation and cloud computing.

Over the past few years, this has led to increased Government investment in information and communication technology (ICT)-related projects in the Middle East and this is expected to proliferate further in future.

At the Frost & Sullivan Middle East Enterprise Security Summit 2012 Andy Baul-Lewis, Director, ICT Practice, Frost & Sullivan, described the prevalent enterprise security landscape in the Middle East. "Building security for electronic assets is one of the most critical tasks facing organisations today. In a converged world, where the threats of each system are multiplied; getting advice, sharing best practice, and talking to partners is a vital part of the construction process," he stated at the Summit.