I’ve been thinking lately about the actual size of the security market, and it never fails to amaze me just how many unique products and services that are offered to help ensure the safety and security of people and things.

It seems Gartner, Inc. is just as fascinated, because they recently analyzed and forecasted that the worldwide security technology and services market will reach $67.2 billion in 2013. Now, that’s great news! And, what’s even better news? The firm also projected this same market would grow to more than $86 billion in 2016.

So, with dollar amounts growing, what should the IT security industry focus on to enhance their financial growth?

Of course, the BYOD trend is expected to highly-influence this projected growth, but Gartner analysts also mentioned three other main trends:

1. Mobile security

   Mobile device management technologies (MDM), such as mobile VDI, containers, app wrapping and device virtualization used to segregate personal data from corporate data on personal devices will see advancement throughout 2013. Also, it seems that HTML5 apps will become the preferred way to deliver enterprise apps because they are simple, cheaper to develop and have lower maintenance costs. And, a final note about mobile security: business models are developing around user preferences and activity history, which could eventually lead to more pervasive mobile data collection.

2. Big Data

   Big Data requires security systems to adopt intelligence-driven security models that are more risk-aware, contextual and agile to protect against illicit activities and advanced cyber threats. This means that security teams are going to need analysts to combine data with a deep understanding of business risks and cyber-attack techniques.

3. Advanced targeted attacks (ATA)

   Attackers with financial motivation tend to devise strategies to penetrate signature-based antivirus and intrusion prevention by deploying malware for the initial breach and the data-gathering phase. Once inside the system, advanced hackers can actively remain persistent on the organization’s internal network.

Defense against “ATAs requires a defense-in-depth strategy across multiple security controls,” said Lawrence Pingree, research director at Gartner. “Enterprises should employee a defense-in-depth, layered approach model to accomplish security goals, namely detect, prevent, respond and eliminate.”

Sources: 
http://www.eweek.com/small-business/security-technology-market-to-reach-86b-in-2016-gartner/ 
http://www.cio.com/article/731749/4_Mobile_Security_Predictions_to_Help_CIOs_Plan_for_the_Future 
http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/business_technology/big_data_the_next_frontier_for_innovation 
http://www.emc.com/collateral/industry-overview/big-data-fuels-intelligence-driven-security-io.pdf