IDC predicts escalation of online security threats in coming years

As companies around the world bear down to deal with quickly evolving online security threats, a new report from IDC predicts the market for data protection services will surpass $900 million by 2014.

The IT services segment is expected to be dominated by advanced security event monitoring tools and management technologies that provide holistic threat analysis to arm administrators with actionable intelligence. This need for such strategies will become ever more pronounced as hackers exploit web applications and enter through other difficult-to-detect points of vulnerability.

"Businesses are struggling to protect themselves as these outside threats become more resistant to signature-based security tools," IDC senior analyst Christine Liebert explained. "It's becoming clear that many of these emerging threats cannot be defended against in-house, creating a shift in security posture toward being more proactive."

To get their online security affairs in order, businesses to should note the changing tides of the digital landscape, IDC's researchers said. For example, cybercriminals are able to extract sensitive information from compromised networks faster than ever before. With some attacks taking only a matter of minutes to execute, real-time threat monitoring has become imperative.