Singapore steps up hosted security services patronage

91% of Singaporean companies believe IT security as issue as 33% rated attacks as effective.

Seventy-five percent of Asia Pacific organisations experienced cyber-attacks in the past 12 months, costing enterprise businesses an average of US$763,000 per year. 33 percent of Singapore enterprises rated the attacks somewhat or highly effective, according to the recent Symantec 2010 State of Enterprise Security Survey.

Now Symantec Hosted Services has conducted a further survey to determine what companies in Singapore are doing about the threat. The findings indicate that the level of trust in Security as a Service – what is coming to be known as cloud security – as a potential solution to the relentless spam and malware onslaught is at an all-time high.

The study revealed that 91 percent of Singapore companies regard IT security as an important issue, with 1 in 4 Singapore firms already deploying hosted security services, believed to provide more robust protection backed by experts and research. Most respondents believe that security expertise is the top benefit of a hosted security service, as compared to having in-house IT personnel who may not have the necessary expertise or resources to keep the system updated and effectively protected against constantly evolving cyber threats.

The research was carried out by the market research firm Harris Interactive which conducted interviews with 104 IT Managers and IT decision makers in Singapore in 2010.

Study Highlights:

• 91 percent of Singapore companies regard IT security as an issue
• 1 in 4 companies in Singapore are already using cloud services for their IT security
• More than half the companies that are not currently using hosted security services plan to in the future (55 percent)
• The biggest perceived benefit from using hosted security services is “more robust protection from IT security experts”—73 percent of Singapore respondents rank this as a key benefit
• “Cost optimisation/ predictability” is the second most popular benefit, garnering 37 percent of votes in Singapore
• “Legal/compliance responsibilities” is also seen as an important benefit in Singapore with 17 percent votes

"This study confirms our predictions. Singapore firms understand the importance of IT security to the survival and day-to-day operations of their businesses, and have taken the steps necessary towards building a more robust, reliable long-term protection—and that is achieved most readily by engaging the help of hosted services," Bjorn Engelhardt, Vice-President of Symantec Hosted Services, Asia Pacific said.

"We are glad that companies in Singapore have begun shifting from traditional on-site security software/hardware to a hosted system which offers greater optimisation of resources, and is, in the long run, more predictable thanks to the per-account per-month billing structure. We trust that in no time, the hosted security platform will be a norm for Singapore firms, the way it is in other mature markets."