Cloud-based security services will reach $4.2 bn by 2016

By 2015, 10 percent of overall IT security enterprise product capabilities will be delivered in the cloud, according to Gartner, Inc. The services are also driving changes in the market landscape, particularly around a number of key security technology areas, such as secure email and secure Web gateways, remote vulnerability assessment, and Identity and Access Management (IAM). Gartner expects the cloud-based security services market to reach $4.2 billion by 2016.

A January 2013 Gartner survey on security spending shows high demand from security buyers for cloud-based security service offerings.

Furthermore, 27 percent of the respondents indicated they were considering deploying tokenization as a cloud service. Gartner believes regulatory compliance measures to comply with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), for example, are driving much of the growth of interest in tokenization as a service.

As a service, tokenization allows security buyers to avoid having to house personally identifiable information (PII) or other confidential information. The service allows organizations to remove tokenized systems from being considered "in scope" for PCI compliance, thus removing the burden of regulating the environment.

Another area that is likely to experience high growth is security information and event management (SIEM) as a service. Much of the interest is attributed to regulatory compliance concerns and security buyers' need to reduce costs in the area of log management, compliance reporting and security event monitoring. However, many customers in the enterprise segment will remain cautious about sending sensitive log information to cloud services, and this will continue to be an important aspect for security-as-a-service providers to address.

Ease of deployment and relief from technology maintenance offer buyers of cloud-based controls direct cost savings.Based on the value that cloud security brings, security buyers may purchase less hardware or software and require fewer implementation services. They can budget through operating expenditure, rather than through capital expenditure. In addition, cloud-based controls can provide more-current protection, sometimes avoiding complex and costly upgrades.