Security has been and still is a problem for computer users both for the corporate and personal users. Threats like malwares and trojans are still in the wild waiting for their next prey. Data loss to corporate users is one big problem that may hinder their operations as well. So how aware and prepared are we in as far as security is concerned?

According to Gartner, Inc, the Asia Pacific security market grew at a solid rate of 28.3 percent in 2008, down from 36 percent in 2007. Despite a slower growth rate, the results show that the security market did not suffer a significant impact from the economic downturn.

Data security and privacy, along with the need to protect IT infrastructure from the ever increasing rise in sophisticated and targeted attacks in Asia Pacific, were among the key drivers fueling the growth of IT security software spending. For organizations operating in mature markets such as Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong, compliance was a major driver.

The secure Web gateway (SWG), security information event management (SIEM) and e-mail security market segments demonstrated the highest growth at 48 percent, 31.1 percent and 29.4 percent, respectively. Consumer security and enterprise endpoint protection remained the two largest sub-segments of the Asia Pacific security market in 2008, totaling US$1.08 billion.

In 2008, the largest security markets in Asia Pacific were (in order) China, Australia and South Korea. Achieving over 30 percent growth, the most dynamic countries were China, Indonesia and Vietnam.

As the biggest security market in Asia Pacific, China had the fastest growth of 39.4 per cent. Cheung attributed this to the high growth of local security players, such as Rising and Kingsoft, the heavy spending on Olympic Games in 2008 and the rapid increase in foreign investments. Other drivers included the modernization of IT infrastructure and domestic demand in the country.

The top five vendors held nearly half of the market at 47.8 percent. The combined top five vendors' market share is gradually falling in favour of smaller players, a sign that security remains a dynamic market where smaller players, new entrants and specialist vendors rise to become an effective challenge to the established leaders.

Symantec continued to be the market leader, accounting for 22 percent of security software revenue in Asia Pacific in 2008. However, the company's market share was down from 2007 when it accounted for 22.8 per cent of the market. TrendMicro is in second for 10.3 percent. McAfee came in third with 7.3 percent but it experienced the strongest growth rate among the top five vendors, as its revenue increased 30.1 percent in 2008. EMC came in fourth with 6,2 percent, followed by IBM with 5.2 percent.