Security Services Take Off
The interaction between two strong business trends -- security services and cloud services -- made 2012 a strong year for startups combining aspects of both industries. Companies offering cloud security services were expected to accumulate $1.9 billion in revenue this year, a figure that is expected to grow to $4.2 billion in 2016, according to business-analysis firm Gartner.
Using cloud security gateways to manage identity and mobile users, as well as threat analysis services, were among the strongest trends this year, says Lawrence Pingree, research director at Gartner. Companies such as PwnedList and WWPass focused on protecting identity, albeit in different ways, while CrowdStrike, Lastline, and SecurityStarfish focused on threat intelligence and gaining information on attackers. Such services -- security information and event management (SIEM) and security intelligence engines -- top the list of services that companies plan to adopt in the next 24 months, Pingree says.
A number of companies that were focused on the same trends didn't make this list, because they did not qualify as startups, did not announce services, or were focused strictly on consumers. Six-year-old OpenDNS, for example, launched its Umbrella service to help secure nomadic workers, while secretive BlueBox plans to unveil its own service -- likely next year -- to help companies lock down mobile devices. And Jumpshot, a service funded through Kickstarter and started by two security researchers, aims to simplify IT for consumers.
Another area to watch: Cloud-service brokerages. In the near future, cloud-service gateways will become a key way that CIOs can manage their company's use of cloud services, reigning in the shadow information-technology that undermines companies' security, says Pingree.
"Business groups are swiping their credit cards and going around IT, and they represent risk to the organization," he says. "Anything that helps the CIO gain visibility into that ... companies are looking at."