The market for data safety providers in China has been steadily growing as concerns for cybersecurity rise. (Photo : Reuters)
China's cybersecurity market has been continuously growing as the country sees a rising number of concerns over safety on the Internet.
For Qi Xiandong, president of Chinese anti-virus software supplier Qihoo 360 Technology, the best time for data safety providers is about to come, China Daily reported.
"As the Internet is widely used in various sectors, an increasing number of companies are moving sensitive data online," Qi said. "Demand for Web security products and services is poised to surge in the coming years because company executives are starting to see information as a core asset."
Echoing the same sentiment, Samuel Sinn, cybersecurity service partner at PwC China, said that the so-called Internet of Things are highly vulnerable if users do not have the right tool to safeguard online data.
According to a PwC report, a Chinese company had to respond to an average of 1,200 information security issues this year, a figure five times higher than last year's.
The report also showed that the most targeted information were customer data, intellectual property and internal records.
Additionally, PwC said that Chinese companies have allotted $8 billion for information security budget this year.
Industry consultancy ABI Research estimated that by 2017, the country's cybersecurity market could cost as high as $10 billion, which is double the size of the 2012 figure.
ABI Research added that some of the major drivers for the market will be the growing mobile Internet, online shopping and the deeper integration of cloud computing in traditional industries like retail and finance.
"As the market for Internet and mobile security products matures, especially at the consumer end, the demand for quality solutions and the focus on the end-user experience will become more important," Michela Menting, a senior analyst at ABI, said.
"Data safety could become a life-or-death question today as we connect everything via the Web," Sinn also pointed out.
