In response to a rash of hacking incidents, combined with increasingly strict compliance requirements, more companies are beginning to focus their efforts on ensuring the information stored in their databases is protected.
According to a recent Dark Reading report, the segment of the data security solutions market focused on monitoring activity in databases reached $200 million in 2010. And growth is expected to only continue throughout this year.
"Market growth in the [database activity monitoring] space is driven largely by the need for compliance, but a number of other factors are also beginning to show their weight," the report stated. Among those other factors are the ongoing efforts of hacking groups to crack corporate networks for financial gain or to embarrass the organization.
But when it comes to compliance, nearly all companies are affected by at least one set of standards. Most common is the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, which governs companies that store and share payment card information.
It's the increasingly strict nature of such requirements that are forcing companies to lend higher priority to data protection measures.
"We need to get a consolidated view across all databases, more centralized audit control, real-time reporting and logging," an unnamed information security analyst at a large bank told Forrester Research, according to Dark Reading. "Today, we spend countless hours trying to get some information across our databases, which is not good enough."
Physical databases aren't the only areas of businesses gaining more attention when it comes to data security. A recent report from Goode Intelligence pointed to a forthcoming spike in the mobile security market as well.
According to the firm, the market for mobile phone biometric security tools and services will reach $161 million in revenue by 2015. This year, the market is expected to hit $30 million.
