Security-as-a-Service (SECaaS) Market is Expected to Grow Rapidly

An article [1] in CIO argues that Security-as-a-Service (SECaaS) will have a promising future. SECaaS is a business model in which a service provider such as Cloud Service Provider (CSP), Managed Service Provider (MSP) or Managed Security Service Provider (MSSP) integrates its security services into a corporate infrastructure on a subscription basis [3]. The service provider provides protection for apps, data, and operations that run in the cloud [4].

SECaaS covers a set of prevention, detection, and resolution services, including for example [1,3]:

• Email security
• SIEM (Security Information Event Management), which supports threat detection and security incident response through real-time collection and historical analysis of security events [5]
• IAM (Identity and Access Management)
• Endpoint protection
• IDS/IPS (Intrusion Detection System / Intrusion Prevention System)
• Anti-virus
• Anti-malware/spyware
• DLP (Data Loss Prevention)
• DRaaS (Disaster Recovery as a Service)

There exist some interesting predictions for the SECaaS market:

• 80% of organizations’ IT budgets will be dedicated to cloud computing services within the next 16 months [2]
• By 2020, 85% of large enterprises will use a cloud access security broker solution, up from less than 5% in 2015 [1]
• 78% of organizations plan to invest in SECaaS during the next 12 to 18 months [2] (this includes any form of SECaaS)
• By 2020, the SECaaS market will exceed $8.52 billion, growing at a 22.2% CAGR from $3.12 billion in 2016 [6]

Some examples of SECaaS companies include [4]:

• Cloud Access Security Brokerage (CASB) vendors provide a range of services designed to help a company protect cloud infra and data. An example of a CASB vendor is Palerra that is claimed to be the first vendor that was able to automate the entire security lifecycle from preventive measures to detection and remediation.
• Single Sign-on (SSO) services make it possible to access all enterprise cloud apps with a single set of login credentials. An example of an SSO vendor is Okta that focuses on the IAM aspect of cloud security.
• Email security SECaaS providers can protect enterprises for example from malvertising, targeted attacks, phishing, and data breaches. An example of a SECaaS provider focusing on email is Proofpoint.
• Website and application security – here SECaaS providers such as White Hat Security offer services to for example expose and seal vulnerabilities in a company’s external-facing websites and web applications, or internal portals and intranets.
• Network Security as a Service vendors such as Qualys deliver threat detection and intrusion prevention through the cloud, monitoring traffic moving in and out of the company’s servers and stopping threats before they materialize. Qualys offers continuous network monitoring, vulnerability management, compliance management, web scanning, web application firewall, malware detection and secure website testing.

According to MarketsAndMarkets, the healthcare vertical has the largest market size in the SECaaS market [6]. The market that is expected to grow with the highest CAGR is database cloud security. The major vendors in the SECaaS market include Symantec, McAfee, Cisco, Trend Micro, CipherCloud, ZScaler, Alert Logic, Radware and others. North America is expected to have the largest market share in the SECaaS market from 2015 to 2020. APAC is expected to have the greatest growth potential.

Companies are among other things looking at alternatives to a perimeter-based approach to cybersecurity, including network segmentation (i.e., zoning and micro-segmentation, which are getting new attention with the growing popularity of SDN) and Software-Defined Security (SDS) [1].

Sources

[1] Why Security-as-a-Service is Poised to Take Off, http://www.cio.com/article/3156291/networking/why-security-as-a-service-is-poised-to-take-off.html

[2] Blue Skies Ahead? The state of cloud adoption, http://www.mcafee.com/us/resources/reports/rp-blue-skies-ahead.pdf

[3] Security as a service, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Security_as_a_service

[4] Top 5 Security-as-a-Service Providers, http://technologyadvice.com/blog/information-technology/top-5-security-as-a-service-providers/

[5] Security Information and Event Management (SIEM), http://www.gartner.com/it-glossary/security-information-and-event-management-siem/

[6] Security as a Service Market worth 8.52 Billion USD by 2020, http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/PressReleases/security-as-a-service.asp