IT security sector eyes exponential growth

The IT-security services sector is poised to grow as computers have taken centrestage in today's world.

"IT Security services is a Rs 100-crore market growing at 30-40 per cent per year and is expected to grow exponentially in the years to come," said V L Mehta, chief executive officer, Miel e-Security.

The company is a global end-to-end security solutions provider, having over 85 customers in the country. He said the company has registered a growth rate of 120 per cent in the last two years.

"In the last 12-18 months, consciousness about IT security is increasing. Companies are allocating up to 15 per cent of their IT budget on security. Of this, 10 per cent is for security solutions and the rest is for services. But this ratio will reverse in two-three years as the awareness about security services is growing," said Sailesh Haribhakti, managing partner, Haribhakti Group.

The group has been in the e-security services business for the last five years.

However, some observers have kept their fingers crossed. "Corporates are not spending enough money on security services. As the market is still in an infant stage here, there are not many big global players based in India," said Vijay Mukhi, chief (security), Nasscom.

The scope of security services includes getting anti-virus updates, operating system updates, checking intrusion detection system, content filtration, e-mail filtration, protecting operating system for vulnerabilities, penetration testing, and security certifications.

It also includes defining security policies and procedures, managing security services, information security audits, implementation of security infrastructure devices, security consulting services and training all users across the organisation.