Growing Web 2.0 use raises data leak, malware risks

Peter Dinham
Sunday, 11 October 2009 04:26

IT Industry - Market

The growing use of Web 2.0 tools by enterprises, combined with an increasing number of mobile and remote workers, has created a risk of data leaks and new channels for malware, and a security challenge for businesses.

According to a new report on the security market from IDC, to balance the business value of Web 2.0 technologies with the security risks, organisations need real-time deep content analysis and classification, as well as data loss prevention technologies.

In its report, IDC has again named Web security solutions vendor, Websense, as the leader in the Web security market for the seventh consecutive year, with the company nearly doubling its share of the software-as-a-service segment of the Web security market in 2008.

IDC says Websense captured 26.2 percent of the 2008 worldwide market growth for Web security software and grew 96.3 percent in the SaaS Web security segment.

As the use of Web 2.0 tools continues to grow, and the risk of data leaks increases and new channels for malware are created, IDC forecasts the worldwide Web security market to grow 12.3 percent from US$1.4 billion in 2008 to US$2.5 billion in 2013, with SaaS Web security being the fastest-growing segment.

According to IDC security program director, Brian Burke, “Websense once again leads the pack in Web security and in 2008 grew its market share of the SaaS Web security segment as well. “Websense continues to develop its core strength in discovering and classifying content across all its product offerings and provides its customers visibility and management over their information in a Web 2.0 world to control where users and data can go online.”