Indian SMBs to spend over $291mn in security

BANGALORE, INDIA: Small and medium businesses in India are on track to spend US$291 million on security-related investments in 2009, said a research by AMI partners Inc., a provider in IT consultation and analytical services.

“Data explosion, electronic threats and increased usage of web-based solutions are some of the triggers for the adoption of security solutions by India SMBs,” said Abhilash DB, Analyst at AMI-Partners.

Indian SMBs are realizing that data security is not just adopting security solutions but that formulating structured policies is also a critical factor.

The AMI study notes that SMBs are the most vulnerable segment in terms of data security.

Two reason for this is the increasing instances of cyber threats and a lack of expertise among SMBs in handling such threats.

Security software accounts for 73 per cent of the total SMB security expenditure, said the report.

“The bulk of this amount is spent on anti-virus software. Security for SBs is confined mainly to the deployment of an antivirus solution and the majority of them lack proper processes and policies for security management,” added Abhilash.

The dependence on web-based enterprise solutions and sharing of critical data on corporate networks is rising rapidly among MBs.

As employee size increases, the thrust on information security also rises. Even for basic security solutions, upper segment MBs lead the way in terms of technology adoption.

Adoption of network firewall and IDS/IPS shows significant growth among businesses in this category.

On one hand the growth rate of traditional security solutions such as anti-virus is falling; on the other hand, anti-spyware and anti-spam solutions will record growth rates of nearly 26 per cent among Indian SMBs this year.

The AMI study notes that manufacturing is increasingly becoming one of the most data intensive verticals; security managers of these firms are concerned about data leakage.

Information security investments are also increasing in the micro-verticals involved in accounting, auditing and book keeping, advertising and PR, research consulting, computer and data processing and legal services.

Managed security services (MSS) is one of the key trends in the SMB security space.

The AMI study says that the market for managed security services is expected to grow at approximately 21 per cent this year.

But the main challenge of service providers would be to convince SMBs to lose their inhibitions in trusting external organizations to handle their internal security.

AMI foresees a greater traction in this space once SMBs start realizing that security is better managed by MSS providers than the generalists in their IT department.

Another trend is the increasing adoption of unified threat management (UTM); traction will increase as more SMBs look for a proactive and unified approach to securing IT infrastructure.