Acknowledging that the majority of threats enter networks through unsafe web browsing, 64% of the organisations participating in the latest enterprise security survey by IHS say they plan to increase spending on Web security and a long list of complimentary security solutions, including new sandboxing/virtual execution tools to prevent advanced persistent threats.

“Even during the last major recession, which impacted spending in all areas of IT, none of the core threat mitigation markets contracted,” says Jeff Wilson, research director for cyber-security technology at IHS. “The constant game of cat and mouse played by attacker and attacked leads to technology innovation and increased investment. The amount of growth ebbs and flows, but there is always growth.

“For security technology vendors in a crowded market, the best way to separate from the noise is to help buyers consolidate their disjointed security infrastructures, move security to the cloud, reduce threat exposure windows by embracing orchestration and automation, and discover even the most advanced threats,” Wilson adds.

Other survey highlights include:

* Survey respondents’ top drivers for deploying new security solutions are protecting against data theft and leakage and upgrading security to match network performance

* Cost is the number one barrier affecting respondents’ deployment of new security solutions

* Businesses increasingly expect to consume security via a mix of products and hosted services/SaaS (software-as-a-service)

* The top three security technology vendors as cited by enterprise participants are Cisco, IBM and Microsoft (listed in alphabetical order)