Study: Mobile Security Software Market To Grow Sixfold In Next Five Years

The market for security software to protect mobile devices will increase by sixfold during the next five years, reaching almost $3.7 billion by 2016, according to a new report by Juniper Research.

Enterprise and business sales will account for almost 69 percent of the growing mobile security software market, the Juniper study says. The recent series of high-profile security breaches and alerts, including Britain’s "News of the World" phone and email hacking scandal, has heightened the public’s awareness of the vulnerability of mobile devices, according to the study.

Businesses are now beginning to spend more on mobile device security applications as those applications become more integrated into the enterprise, Juniper says.

"Companies need to incorporate mobile network-connected devices into the corporate network, since this is the easiest way to enforce policies and to audit such devices,” says report author Nitin Bhas.

Tablet devices are being used more frequently in the enterprise, and the percentage of tablets equipped with security software will eventually outstrip the percentage of smartphones that carry such software, Juniper predicts.

Currently, fewer than 1 in 20 smartphones and tablets have third-party security software installed in them, the study says. But by 2016, some 277 million mobile devices will have some kind of protection installed, the study says.

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