Demand for cloud solutions drives WAF market to new heights

The global web application firewall (WAF) market is expected to grow at a CAGR of more than 17% until 2019, driven largely by demand for cloud-based solutions.

This is according to Technavio's most recent research report titled 'Global Web Application Firewall Market 2015-2019', which provides analysis of market growth in terms of revenue and emerging market trends.

Amrita Choudhury, Technavio IT security lead analyst, says, "IT infrastructure of many companies require frequent upgrades in order to cater to current market demands. This drives the evolution and rapid adoption of consistent and secured IT security solutions such as web application firewalls (WAFs)."

"Organisations find it difficult to manage standalone or integrated WAF solutions because of issues such as lack of resources, budget constraints and lack of expertise to address security problems.

"To address these issues, organisations are expected to opt for cloud-based WAF solutions that are cost-effective, compatible with payment card industry data security standard (PCI DSS) regulations, and offer round-the-clock system monitoring. Advantages such as the availability of pay-per-use models and instant access further adds to the attractiveness of web application firewall solutions," says Choudhury.

According to Technavio, the top three segments of the global web application firewall market are BFSI, eCommerce and government.

BFSI segment: largest revenue contributor for the global web application firewall market

According to the report, the BFSI sector has consistently faced web-based attacks in the past as hackers have attempted to crash computer systems and harmed capital markets. Hacking, phishing, and other methods of cyberwarfare are likely to increase instances of bank frauds and thefts in the future, Technavio says.

In fact, cybercriminals have illegally accessed more than half of the global top 50 banking websites over the past decade, and it is anticipated to result in about US$1 billion worth of losses per year for the BFSI sector, Technavio says.

As such, the BFSI sector is therefore likely to adopt WAF solutions to protect critical business information from cyber-attacks and data breaches. Being the most targeted sector for web application layer attacks, BFSI will continue to be the biggest adopter of web application firewall solutions over the next four years, Technavio finds.

Ecommerce: second largest revenue contributor for the global web application firewall market

The global web application firewall market in the eCommerce sector was valued at close to US$109.1 million in 2014. The eCommerce sector is highly sensitive towards the protection of online payments and transaction information of customers, according to Technavio.

Activities such as sharing business information, maintaining business relationships, and conducting business transactions through telecommunications networks are prevalent in this sector. Therefore, a secured web application firewall is required to reduce risks caused on account of increased sophistication of web-based threats, the analysts say.

The market has witnessed a significant rise in point-of-sale attacks over the past few years. The majority of these incidents that occurred in the eCommerce sector were high-profile incidents that affected the reputation of the retailers. Such developments are therefore likely to increase the adoption of web application firewall solutions over the next four years, according to the analysts.

Global web application firewall market in the government sector

Governments worldwide are developing and expanding communication networks for enabling faster and easier networking and exchange of information. These advances have led to a rising number of web application attacks in the government sector, thus increasing the demand for web application firewall solutions, Technavio says.

Higher dependence on digital technologies, web applications, and internet results in higher vulnerability to web application attacks. The government sector has been the target of such attacks in the past. Accessing sensitive personal and business information had disrupted critical operations, adversely affecting the economy in this sector. These factors are likely to help the global web application firewall market grow at a CAGR of close to 19% until 2019, Technavio concludes.