IT Security Turns Inside Out: Outbound Content Compliance Fuels Continued Market Growth, IDC Says

FRAMINGHAM, Mass., November 30, 2005 – Although organizations have traditionally focused security efforts on external threats posed by the explosive growth of viruses, spam, spyware, and blended threats, there is an emerging threat to corporate security that comes from inside the organization. According to new research from IDC, the detection and prevention of outbound content that violates corporate policy and government and industry regulations is critical. This new security market segment, which IDC has termed outbound content compliance (OCC), will swell to $1.9 billion in 2009.

“There is growing demand for solutions that will combat potentially devastating content distribution and violations of government and industry regulations,” said Brian Burke, manager of IDC’s security products and services research. These demands are being met through a range of OCC solutions that monitor, secure/encrypt, filter, and block outbound content contained in email, instant messaging, P2P, file transfers, Web postings, and other types of messaging traffic. “OCC plays a key role in enforcing corporate compliance with both external regulatory requirements and internal corporate policies,” Burke said.

Government and industry regulations have placed unprecedented pressure on corporations to secure the use of their electronic communications. “Addressing the insider threat is becoming more complex,” said Burke. “The increasing use of corporate email, Web email, instant messaging, peer-to-peer, and other channels for distributing data and the proliferation of mobile devices that allow employees to carry sensitive information outside the organization’s boundaries make the control of outbound content increasingly difficult.”

Other findings from this study include:

* The growing awareness of outbound content compliance has been recently catalyzed by a series of corporate scandals in which customer records, confidential information, and intellectual property were leaked.

* An increasing number of organizations are concerned about filtering their outbound email stream for threats such as spam, viruses, and spyware. Organizations are concerned that they will face legal liability and brand reputation damage if their customers or partners get “infected” by messages they generate.

* The need to secure business communication such as financial statements, patient health information (PHI), intellectual property, and other confidential information has fueled the need for secure email solutions.

* The threats associated with outbound content compliance apply not only to email but also to instant messaging, peer-to-peer, file transfers, Web postings, and other types of messaging traffic.

This study, Worldwide Outbound Content Compliance 2005–2009 Forecast and Analysis: Content Security Turns Inside Out (IDC #34260), examines the outbound content compliance market for the period 2002–2009. It examines how various government and industry regulations and the need to protect sensitive information are driving the need for OCC solutions. This study also includes profiles of leading OCC vendors and identifies the characteristics that vendors will need to be successful in the future.

To purchase this study, contact IDC Sales at 508-988-7988 or sales@idc.com.

Contact Information

Brian Burke

IDC

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