APT fears lead to boom time for solutions market in APAC: Frost

• FireEye leads, but rising competition from Asian vendors like Trend Micro and AhnLab
• Multi-layered security platforms prove ideal for fighting sophisticated attacks

THE emerging and highly fragmented market for advanced persistent threat (APT) solutions has benefitted from the profusion of solutions from numerous vendors, according to Frost & Sullivan
 
End-users’ growing concerns about the complex threat landscape have prompted them to enthusiastically adopt APT products and solutions; they are highly wary of APT attacks following high-profile data breaches, as in the case of retail giant Target.

In a statement, Frost & Sullivan said its new report on the Asia Pacific APT Solutions Market finds that the market, comprising both on-premises products and cloud-based solutions, earned revenues of US$117.9 million in 2014, and is estimated to reach US$658.7 million in 2019.

“Among the top participants, FireEye continues to hold centrestage with the highest market share in Asia Pacific,” said Charles Lim, senior industry analyst, Frost & Sullivan Cyber Security Practice Lead.
 
“However, there is rising competition from Asia-grown security vendors, particularly Trend Micro and South Korean security company AhnLab, both of which have emerged as top-10 APT solution vendors in Asia,” he added.

On-premises APT solutions accounted for a significant percent of the revenue share, while cloud-based solutions made a promising start, Frost & Sullivan said.
 
Significantly, vendors are increasingly aiming to integrate their APT solution features into other security platforms such as network firewalls, the consulting firm added.

Among regions, Australia-New Zealand (ANZ), Japan, and the Association of South-East Asian Nations (Asean) lead the adoption of APT solutions, mainly due to the rising number of targeted attacks.
 
In terms of verticals, financial institutions, government agencies, energy companies, healthcare, legal firms, and education entities with highly sensitive data will be the key beneficiaries of APT solutions.
 
Additionally, vendors could cater to organisations running key critical infrastructures with industrial control systems linked to the Internet, Frost & Sullivan said.
 
Attack vectors

Social engineering, infected media, and zero-day exploits will remain the main launchpads of APT attacks, with e-mail phishing being the most commonly used channel.
 
There has also been greater use of watering hole techniques to launch mass infections for targets chosen at random, Frost & Sullivan said in its statement.

“As threats become more veiled, customers will prefer multi-layered security platforms with total or connected security architectures,” said Frost & Sullivan ICT industry analyst Vu Anh Tien.

Most APT vendors that still rely on sandboxing technologies to detect advanced malware in a virtual environment are finding them insufficient.
 
However, sandboxing analysing technology and dynamic intelligence sharing architecture will continue to form the core of multi-layered prevention architecture. They are likely to be supplemented by threat intelligence, security analytics, multifaceted malware analysis, and forensics tools.

While dedicated sandboxing/ virtual execution appliances will remain the largest revenue generator in the next two to three years, cloud-based sandboxing services will gain traction, especially among small and medium businesses (SMBs).
 
These enterprises will find added value in the convenience of the features in integrated security appliances such as a next-generation firewall, Frost & Sullivan said.

“Key technologies that businesses are seeking include sandboxing, emulation, big data analytics, and anomaly behaviour analysis,” said Tien.
 
“These technologies can be combined with other protection solutions to perform remediation and enhance protection levels across infrastructure.”

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Asia in the crosshairs of APT attackers: FireEye CTO
 
Cybersecurity is about people too: FortiGuard strategist
 
Security industry needs to abandon fear and trepidation: RSA chief
 
 
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