Cybersecurity market increasingly competitive as public cloud segment grows

Cybersecurity solutions for public cloud and 'as a service' offerings are continuing to grow, however traditional hardware and software deployments still dominate the market, new research from Canalys' Cybersecurity Analysis service shows.

Public cloud and 'as a service' segments growing rapidly

Looking at Q1 2019, Canalys' research shows that public cloud and 'as a service' deployment models together grew 46.0%, and these types of solutions accounted for 17.6% of total cybersecurity market value, up from 13.8% in the same period in the previous year.

In addition, virtual security appliances and agent solutions also grew, reaching 18.2% on an annual basis.

Traditional deployments still the most popular

Overall, the research shows that traditional hardware and software deployments continue to dominate, representing almost 75% of the total. Both models continued to grow but at a slower rate of just over 8%, the research indicates.

The worldwide cybersecurity market reached US$9.7 billion in terms of shipments in the latest quarter, up 14.2% from US$8.5 billion in Q1 2018.

Overall, the channel represented 92.3% of shipment value in the first quarter.

Identifying the top cybersecurity players

The top five cybersecurity market leaders in Q1 2019 were Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Symantec, Check Point and Fortinet, which collectively accounted for 34.0% of the total.

Cisco extended its lead in network security, though Palo Alto Networks and Fortinet continued to grow faster as all three claimed a spot on the leaderboard.

McAfee, Symantec and Trend Micro remained the market leaders in endpoint security, but competition is increasing, with Crowdstrike, Carbon Black and Cylance making most gains, research shows.

Symantec was the leader in web and email security. In terms of the newer deployment models, Trend Micro stands out for simplifying its licensing to enable customers to buy across different types, Canalys says.

Canalys research analyst Claudio Stahnke says, "It will remain difficult for vendors to grow market share without significant investment or acquisitions, due to the current number of vendors active and increasing levels of competition.

"As new threats appear, more startups will emerge, adding to an already crowded market. Differentiation will be key, but also offering customers a choice of deployment and simplified licensing will be vital," Stahnke says.

Research highlights a steady transition to new models

According to Canalys, this data highlights the ongoing transition in cybersecurity solutions as organisations look to protect more data assets and workloads based in the public cloud.

Canalys says, vendors have introduced new ways of doing business with channels and enterprise customers in terms of purchasing, consumption and servicing, as well as helping simplify operations in increasingly complex IT environments.

Canalys principal analyst Matthew Ball says, "Investment in cybersecurity shows no sign of slowing down as it remains a priority for all organisations. The security industry will be immune to the increasingly challenging macro-economic and political environment.

"Recent high-profile ransomware attacks have resulted in organisations paying large sums to regain access to critical IT systems and data.

"Strengthening security strategies across devices, infrastructure, perimeters and applications will continue to be critical. Increasing employee training and gaining more comprehensive cybersecurity insurance will also be important to counter these threats," Ball says.

Challenges ahead for cybersecurity vendors

Stahnke says, "The challenge for organisations in both the public and private sectors is to maintain pace with the evolving and diverse range of threats.

"Many will think they are too small or not high-profile enough to be targets, but hackers will seek to exploit any vulnerabilities.

"This is creating opportunities for channel partners to expand their capabilities to provide more holistic cybersecurity offerings to assess, recommend, deploy, integrate and manage multi-vendor solutions and services incorporating multiple deployment models.