Why IT security is vital for corporate firms, others

The Network and endpoint security company, Sophos, has revealed that majority of organisations in Nigeria, Middle East & Africa (MEA), are recognising the benefits of integrated security, especially the concept of linking network firewall and endpoint security for better insights.

However, the study revealed that although MEA organisations were unlikely to increase the number of vendors they interact with, they were likely to increase the number of products in use, which highlight the organisations in the region currently do not tend to follow an integrated strategy when it comes to security.

The Sophos-sponsored Info- Brief Synchronised Security Market Analysis – Middle East & Africa, developed by International Data Corporation (IDC), revealed that the MEA countries represented a total security solutions market potential of nearly $1.89 billion in 2015, which is expected to increase at a CAGR of 8.1% to a total of $1.94 billion in 2020.

According to the Vice President Middle East & Africa, Sophos, Harish Chib, “IT security is a top priority for companies in this region, as it can impact uptime and overall service levels. In terms of plans to deploy, there is a major focus on end-to-end coverage with advanced security systems, making it apparent that respondents want to simplify and improve control over securing their organisations’ assets.”

This, he said, was followed by plans to deploy mobile device security and cloud-specific security solutions. “MEA’s mobile device proliferation is among the highest in the world, making it important to secure devices and content on devices. Increased deployment of private and public cloud services makes it critical for organisations to integrate security as a part of their cloud strategy,” he said.

Chib said further that, “It is clear from the responses thats, in addition to threat landscape complexity, organisations do not have a holistic strategy when it comes to deploying their security solutions. With the increase in sophisticated attacks across the region, companies are now looking for smarter and simpler IT security solutions.

“The majority of respondents across all four countries agreed with the concept of linking network firewall and endpoint security for better insights. The acceptance is higher among larger enterprise. Synchronized security is the new key for protection against cyber threats.”