Posts Tagged :

Research

Functional safety market to reach $8.9bn by 2030

 960 640 Stuart O'Brien
By:

According to the recent study published by P&S Intelligence, the functional safety market accounted for $4,839.2 million revenue in 2021, which is set to reach $8,990.6 million by 2030, growing at a 7.1% CAGR between 2021 and 2030.

The report categorises the functional safety concept is applicable to a variety of businesses where modern technology in safety-related systems is vital. It ensures that the systems provide the necessary risk reduction to ensure equipment and worker protection.

Key Findings:-

  • The APAC market revenue will be over $2,000 million in 2030, which is also expected to advance at the highest rate in the coming years. With the growth of the strictly regulated industries, such as oil and gas and electricity, the demand for functional safety is surging in developing countries, mainly in China and India.
  • Because of its extraordinarily high rate of industrial output, China has a share of over 30% in the regional market. Such factors act as catalysts for the automation sector in the country. Funding is being planned to ensure growth and quality, as well as to address environmental issues and reduce overcapacity.
  • From 2021 to 2030, the automotive and transportation sector is expected to develop at the highest rate, of more than 7.5%, in the market. Numerous technical advancements in automobiles have been made in recent years, particularly in terms of safety.
  • By SIL type, systems compatible with SIL3 have the biggest share of the functional safety market, and this category will also expand at the quickest rate in the coming years. Most industrial enterprises can afford systems based on this level of safety compliance.
  • During 2021–2030, safety sensor demand is expected to expand at a CAGR of more than 7.5%. Machine safety, people security, body part protection, high-risk zone safety, and perimeter monitoring are all areas where safety sensors are employed.

Modern technologies, including AI, ML, and IIoT, are both reflections of scientific progress and enablers of further scientific progress. Such technical capabilities might provide the much-needed benefits that surpass the advantages of the manual mode, as well as a new route for the adoption of solutions based on such technologies.

IIoT is enabling safety and compliance services by facilitating analysis, monitoring, and control, as well as the practical management of physical processes, all of which aid in enhancing system performance.

Global physical security market to hit $195.6bn by 2030

 960 640 Stuart O'Brien
By:

Market Research Future (MRFR) asserts that global demand for physical security is poised to reach $195.6bn by 2030, equivalent to a 6.7% CAGR throughout the forecast period (2021–2030).

The reports points out that the physical security market’s competitive landscape is ‘enormous and tense’, with new competitors quickly entering the market and existing players making massive investments.

With the expansion of Internet-based services and technological progress, the market picture for physical security has shifted, however. Utilising physical security systems and solutions to regulate, monitor, and test any potential threats, attacks, environmental disasters, etc. is a trend in the physical security business and one that the report says will drive growth.

The usage of locks and keys with password-protected setups, alarms, sirens, etc., to combat an emergency attack are examples of such technological improvements. Technologies like facial recognition, iris recognition, etc., mean the physical security market is expected to undergo a boom with the entrance of new technological systems.

The Systems subsegment is predicted to account for the greatest market share throughout the forecast period. The growth is mostly attributable to an increase in the residential sector’s adoption of video surveillance equipment.

The Government sector is anticipated to drive the market over the period under review. Governments across the globe are concentrating on securing offices and public spaces using CCTV surveillance. The number of government security breaches has boosted the global demand for physical security solutions. Developed nations in particular are in search of authentication control alternatives that contribute to the improvement of their national security.

The report segments the global market for physical security into four regions, with each contributing considerably to the industry in terms of its capabilities and population requirements. However, North American area has the largest physical security market share, as it is where the primary development drivers for the physical security industry are generated, and the public appears to be fairly interested in market advancements about new goods.

The majority of acoustic insulation market revenue is anticipated to come from countries such as the United States and Canada, which are experiencing an increase in demand for high-tech security solutions in government and private organizations, public places such as shopping malls, restaurants, and movie theaters, etc., as a result of rising terrorist threats.

Due to the rapid evolution of technology, physical security trends in Europe have increased the demand for physical security systems and solutions, contributing to the region’s constant expansion. Due to rapid technological advancement and rising public safety expenditures in these nations, the Asia-Pacific area is identified as one of the key regions that has the potential to be the future market leader.

‘Advancement needed’ for digital transformation of physical security

 960 640 Stuart O'Brien
By:

Physical security budgets and optimistic outlooks are up along with interest in/adoption of digital and collaborative system design technologies, but similar challenges plague system integrators and enterprise security professionals year over year.

That’s according to the second consecutive Physical Security Industry Benchmark commissioned by System Surveyor, based on a survey administered in late 2021

More than 200 physical security professionals responded, including system integrators (49%), corporate and campus security staff (29%), and others such as manufacturers, A&Es, and consultants (23%).

Key Findings include:-

System Integrators:

  • 91% have a favorable business outlook in 2022.
  • Proposal opportunities are increasing but winning them is still an issue. “Low proposal-to-close win rates” remains a top challenge along with “gathering accurate customer site information” and “customers requesting multiple proposal revisions.”
  • The biggest impacts to business also stayed the same year over year: “Delays in project completion” and “Difficulty achieving profit margins.”
  • 73% rely on paper and pen to conduct site surveys – down from 82% in 2020, but shows the runway for digital advancements.

Corporate and campus security professionals:

  • 50% expect budgets to increase this year (versus only 11% in 2020).
  • The number one challenge is “Working with building management on security changes and responsibilities” (up from #7 in 2020).
  • The top recommendation for how integrators can improve service is “Ensure technicians coming on site have updated details on our system” (up from #6 in 2020).
  • 43% will design systems themselves and then request bids and proposals.
  • Other suggestions involve systems integrators better understanding customer needs and providing more transparent, up-to-date information.

Digital Solutions a Common Thread to Improve Customer Experience

Several indicators point to technology as the way forward for both groups:

  • Enterprise security respondents highlighted two suggestions for system integrators directly involving technology: A portal with up-to-date service and system records/system layouts, and a digital, visual way to work jointly on survey designs and procurement.
  • System integrators chose system design software or tools as the number one technology that would most improve business (and more are adopting it). Other solutions foremost for this group are “Customer-facing software/app to visualize and co-design systems,” estimation and proposal software, and a digital as-built (system of record)/CAD for entire team.

For the full report, visit https://systemsurveyor.com/roi-reports/physical-security-benchmark-study-2022.

Five: The average number of cybersecurity incidents UK business report each year

 399 226 Stuart O'Brien
By:

Attackers are seizing on vulnerabilities in hybrid working environments, creating more work – and also larger budgets – for security teams, despite organisations accelerating digital transformation projects.

The latest State of Security Report from Infblox, which surveyed 100 UK respondents in IT and cybersecurity roles in the UK as part of its global sample, discovered that the recent surge in remote work has changed the corporate landscape significantly.

In fact 64% of UK organisations have accelerated digital transformation projects in order to support remote workers since 2020. This is higher than the global (52%) average.  

  As part of this shift just under half (49%) of organisations have increased customer portal support for remote engagement and 43% have added resources to their networks and data basis. Given that over a third (34%) have close their physical offices for good, this investment may prove to be a strong strategic move.  

Cybersecurity still causing headaches   

An increased digital footprint inevitably brings increased digital risk and the reality of a hybrid workforce is causing headaches for IT teams and business leaders. The data reveals that the loss of direct security controls and network visibility has half (50%) of UK companies more concerned about data leakage than anything else. Almost as many (45%) are worried remote worker connections will come under attack.    

It appears that organisations have good reason to worry, given the report found that 61% experienced up to five security incidents in the last year. However, there is some good news: 66% report that these incidents did not result in a breach. This may be because 73% were able to detect and respond to a security incident within 24 hours.   

Of the 44% reporting a breach, insecure WiFi access (47%) was the biggest cause. The data also suggests that UK workers are continuing to fall for phishing scams. In fact 4 in 5 (82%) breaches reported in the last 12 months were caused by this attack method. Phishing usually signals the need for or failure of employee and customer security awareness training that require technological backstops  

Defense in depth   

Infoblox’s report discovered that the majority of organisations are investing heavily in security tools to protect their hybrid environments. In fact, 59% of respondents saw bigger budgets in 2021 and 64% anticipate an increase in 2022.   

Many are turning to defense-in-depth strategies, using everything from data encryption and network security to cloud access security brokers and threat intelligence services to defend their expanded attack surface. As part of this, almost half of organisations (47%) are relying on DNS (Domain Name System) to block back traffic.    

“The pandemic shutdowns over the past two years have reshaped how companies around the world operate,” said Anthony James, VP of Product Marketing at Infoblox. “Cloud-first networks and corresponding security controls went from nice-to-have features to business mainstays as organisations sent office workers to work from home. To address the spike in cyberattacks, security teams are turning to DNS security and zero trust models like SASE for a more proactive approach to protecting corporate data and remote devices.”  

The full report is available for download here.  

Physical security market to hit $243.6bn by 2031

 960 640 Stuart O'Brien
By:

The global physical security market is projected to expand at a CAGR of 8.10% between 2021 and 2031 to reach $243bn, driven by uptake in BFSI, retail, and manufacturing to counter the increasing risk of real-world threats, such as unauthorized access and natural disasters.

The latest report from Transparency Market Research says the need for robust operational control over disparate physical security systems to keep people, assets, and facilities safe from real-world threats is fueling the growth of the physical security market.

Meanwhile, the integration of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and IoT has led to an increasingly interconnected network of Cyber-Physical Systems, which diminishes the distinction between physical security and cybersecurity.

The deployment of a large number of security systems in organizations that has increased the complexity of managing and controlling incidents due to gap in communication with other systems has led to the rise in security breaches.

Changing work practices over the past few years wherein enterprises rely on both physical and virtual ecosystems hosted on public or private clouds to expand business capabilities is susceptible to real-world threats. This stimulates demand for physical security solutions.

Physical Security Market – Key Findings of Report

  • Need for recurring security of IoT ecosystems increases with rise in value of assets and number of connected devices. The fragmented and distributed nature of IoT is subject to larger attack surface with proximity to devices. Lack of sufficient physical security can pose severe security threats to the IoT ecosystem and lead to security breach, thus driving growth of physical security market.
  • Consistent technological advancements in physical security solutions such as smartphones, video surveillance, and RFID key card door locks that protects data from unauthorized users amplify demand for physical security solutions
  • Innovations in cloud computing and IoT expands vistas for the physical security market. Advent of novel technologies protects networks and data from physical activities that can cause serious loss or damage to an agency, institution, or business enterprise.
  • Presence of a robust technology underlying physical security systems does not require control box to control all operations; verifications in physical security system occur at the credential scanner
  • Significance of credential scanner lies in verification of physical security systems, which is connected to a network and provides safety solutions to IoT ecosystem
  • North America is anticipated to hold the leading share of the physical security market during the forecast period. Significant rise in demand from BFSI and government sectors for physical security solutions for safety of personnel, software, hardware, networks, and data from is creating opportunities in the physical security market of North America.

Half of UK employees unable to identify scam emails

 960 640 Stuart O'Brien
By:

Nearly half of employees (42%) across the UK are unable to identify a scam email purporting to be from Royal Mail.

That’s according to a new survey was conducted by Opinium Research and OpenText Security Solutions and at a time when cybercriminal activity is rife, with the average business targeted 28 times by cyber threats in the past year.

And with nearly half (44%) of large organisations suffering network downtime lasting longer than one day due to phishing attacks, it’s clear businesses need to ensure staff are educated on risky IT behaviours that can lead to security compromises.

In fact, the survey reveals many employees are unaware of common terms related to cyber threats, with 50% revealing they had never heard of the term DDoS (distributed denial-of-service) and 60% had no knowledge of BEC (business email compromise). This demonstrates a clear need for organisations to cut the jargon when it comes to educating employees on cybersecurity.

Matt Aldridge, Principal BrightCloud Threat Intelligence Solutions Consultant at OpenText Security Solutions, said: “Security awareness is critically important for all organisations, as the employee is always the first line of defence in cyber security.

There’s no use investing in sophisticated cyber security software if employees click on dangerous phishing links and grant cyber-criminals access to the business network or to confidential data. It’s like turning on a fancy home security alarm, but leaving a window open — you’ll be left playing catch-up after the bad guys get in.

To ensure cyber resilience, employees need to be educated on the latest risks as soon as they are discovered – whether that’s the Royal Mail scam or the multitude of other threats. Organisations can achieve this by using templated phishing simulations that are reflective of the latest emerging scams. These should be implemented alongside strong and robust communication to employees and adequate technical defences, all of which will help to ensure cyber resilience.”

Additional findings show over a quarter of employees in the UK (29%) have never completed any form of cyber risk training. Furthermore, seven-in-ten (70%) employees indicated they would be worried to report that they had compromised the security of their company to their boss. These findings indicate many UK organisations need to change their attitudes towards cybersecurity in order to improve employee vigilance.

Web threats ‘increased by over 130%’ at the end of 2021

 960 640 Stuart O'Brien
By:
According to the data presented by Atlas VPN, web threats have increased by 133% in November and December of 2021, compared to September and October. In addition, JavaScript downloaders and crypto miners were the most active web threats at the end of 2021.
Web threats affect everyone and every device that is connected to the internet. Web threats enter users’ networks without their awareness and can be activated by opening a spam email or clicking on an executable file attachment.
Web threats reached 59,478 unique malicious URLs in September 2021, which resulted in 319,497 total threats. In October, the number kept slightly increasing to 60,440 unique malicious URLs, accumulating 361,184 hits.
November and December months combined accumulated 133% more web threats than September and October. The 84,470 unique malicious URLs in November turned into 833,924 total web threats. Even more, unique malicious URLs were seen in December at 93,999, which aggregated 749,956 threats.
Black Friday and Christmas sales in November and December influenced the rapid increase in web threats. Cybercriminals are particularly active during these seasons as they target e-commerce websites to steal customer personal information.
Cybersecurity writer at Atlas VPN Vilius Kardelis said: “The landscape of web threats has changed dramatically in recent years. Smart devices and high-speed mobile networks have enabled an always-connected route of malware, fraud, and other compromises. The top concern that continues to pose new risks to security and privacy is the lack of caution when using the web.”
Most popular web threats
Cybercriminals can employ different types of web threats to target people’s devices.
JavaScript (JS) downloaders were observed to have 61,283 unique malicious URLs, which accumulated 726,372 total threats from October to December 2021.
From the total of 628,725 crypto miner threats, 59,550 were unique malicious URLs. Web miners that operate in internet browsers demand substantial CPU resources, causing computer use to be exceedingly slow.
Next up, 328,310 web threats were collected from 26,614 unique URLs with web skimmers. JavaScript redirectors amassed 115,497 web threats, of which 4,097 were unique malicious URLs. Finally, web scams accumulated 86,999 total threats, of which 15,130 were unique malicious URLs.

New report reveals impact of defence sector on UK economy

 960 640 Stuart O'Brien
By:

A new economic report published has outlined the huge value of the defence sector to UK jobs, businesses and exports.

The report has been published by the Joint Economic Data Hub (JEDHub), a collaborative initiative to improve understanding of the defence sector’s contribution to the UK economy and an important deliverable of the 2021 Defence and Security Industrial Strategy (DSIS).

Key stats in the report include:

  • 10,000 – Organisations paid directly by the MOD globally in 2020/21
  • 5,000 – Estimated apprentices employed in the UK defence sector
  • $4.6 billion – Average of annual UK defence exports between 2016-2020

Minister for Defence Procurement, Jeremy Quin said: “The defence sector is driving prosperity, strengthening the economy, supporting jobs and building skills right across the UK. The first report from the JEDHub provides new insights on the value of the sector – beyond keeping us safe in times of trouble – and I am delighted to see industry and government working together to help us grow our understanding of that vital contribution. I would particularly like to thank the companies in the Defence Growth Partnership and members of their supply chains for their support in this important initiative.”

Based in the UK Defence Solutions Centre, the JEDHub is designed to provide better, consistent and impartial data to help inform decision-making processes. The JEDHub is supported by government, industry and academia. Fresh insights from the report include:

  • 37% – Number of the surveyed jobs supported by overseas sales, showing the contribution of defence exports to sustaining jobs in the UK
  • 4.6% – Increase in graduate and apprenticeships entrants into surveyed companies from 2019 to 2020
  • £45,000 – Average full-time salary for surveyed defence roles, over 16% higher than the UK mean average annual full-time salary in 2020

Chief Executive of ADS, Kevin Craven, said: “Through the collaboration between the Ministry of Defence, UK Defence Solutions Centre and industry, the JEDHub annual economic report published today shows the scale of our defence sector’s activity. Employers in this industry are investing heavily in skills and supporting tens of thousands of high value jobs that are essential to the prosperity of communities in all parts of the UK.”

The defence sector continues to invest in developing highly skilled careers for the future, with the report including an estimate from ADS of 5,000 apprentices in employment in the UK defence sector in 2020. The JEDHub survey also covers recruitment of apprentices and graduate trainees and that figure shows growth of 4.6% from the previous year.

The report also follows the recently refreshed SME Action Plan – designed to further improve engagement with Small and Medium Sized Enterprises, focusing on procurement models that are easier to navigate, a recognition of the role the MOD and its major suppliers play in supporting the whole of the defence supply chain and understanding how best to support innovation and exports for UK suppliers.

The latest data shows the MOD spent £1.1 billion directly with SMEs in 2019/20 and a further £3.4 billion indirectly through the supply chain. This accounts for 21.3% of procurement spend that year and shows procurement spending with SMEs continues to grow, with the intention of procurement spending with SMEs reaching 25% by 2022.

The government says research and development (R&D) is central to the Armed Forces being able to stay ahead of adversaries for combating future threats. The JEDHub report shows the MOD spent £1 billion on R&D in 2019/2020 noting that UK Research and Innovation estimates every £1 of public R&D investment generates around £7 of benefit to the UK. Over the past five years industry’s own private investment in UK R&D has also grown, by 8.9% across 2015-2019 to £464 million.

The government states that the JEDHub’s report is an important deliverable of the 2021 Defence and Security Industrial Strategy, building on the Dunne Report which highlighted the crucial contribution of the defence sector to UK prosperity.

In the coming year, the JEDHub aims to provide more data about the economic contribution at a national, regional, and local level.

Global physical security industry to hit $153bn in 2023

 960 640 Stuart O'Brien
By:

The global physical security industry is projected to reach $153 billion by 2023, equivalent to a CAGR of 10.3% between 2017 and 2023.

That’s according to a new report by Allied Market Research, which conlcudes that based on region, North America is the largest supplier of physical security solutions across the world.

Seapee Bajaj, a Lead Analyst, ICT at Allied Market Research, said: “North America dominates the global physical security market pertaining to increased terrorism incidence and enhanced security measures across diverse verticals including commercial; transportation, banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI); residential; and others. Furthermore, growth in Asia-Pacific is expected to be the fastest among other regions, owing to prominent initiatives from the governments for enhancing safety and security standards.”

COVID-19 scenario according to the research:-

• The Covid-19 pandemic provided new growth opportunities as security measures have been implemented across various verticals to ensure business continuity during the post-lockdown period. The thermal cameras have been installed to detect the temperature of visitors and employees in commercial, industrial, and banking spaces.
• In residential spaces, building operators have been installing “Building Wellness” systems and various products to meet the new standards of safety for its residents.
• The demand for ACaaS and VSaaS services has grown significantly as customers want more value from their investments in the times of economic turbulence and investing less upfront capital expenditure.

The report offers detailed segmentation of the global AEC market based on type, industry vertical, and region. Based on type, the services segment contributed to the highest market share in terms of revenue in 2016, and will maintain its highest contribution throughout the forecast period. However, the system segment is projected to register the highest CAGR from 2017 to 2023.

Based on industry vertical, the education, healthcare, retail, energy & utilities, manufacturing & industrial segment collectively garnered the highest revenue share in 2016, and will maintain its dominance during the forecast period. However, the residential sector is estimated to witness the highest growth rate by 2023.

Based on region, North America is the largest supplier of physical security solutions across the world, and the U.S. leads the global market as compared to other countries. However, Asia-Pacific is expected to register a considerable growth throughout the forecast period. China leads the market in Asia-Pacific.

Key players of the global physical security market analysed in the report include Anixter International Inc., Cisco Systems, Inc., Tyco International PLC., Stanley Security, ADT Corporation, Genetec Inc., Bosch Security Systems, Inc., Honeywell International, Inc., and Senstar Corporation.

DDoS attacks were ‘bigger and more complex’ in 2021

 960 640 Stuart O'Brien
By:

Distributed Denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks decreased slightly in 2021 but are becoming larger and more complex in nature, new analysis from F5 has found.

Data collected from F5 Silverline showed a 3% year-on-year decline in the overall volume of attacks recorded in 2021. However, while volume may have declined, the severity of attacks ramped up markedly over the course of the year.

By Q4 2021, the mean attack size recorded was above 21 Gbps, more than four times the level from the beginning of 2020. Last year also saw the record for the largest-ever attack broken on multiple occasions.

“The volume of DDoS attacks has fluctuated by quarter, but the unmistakable trend is that these attacks are getting larger,” said David Warburton, Director of F5 Labs. “While the peak size of attack remained steady throughout 2020, last year we saw it climb consistently. This includes Silverline DDoS Protection tackling several attacks that were successively the largest we had ever seen by an order of magnitude.”

While most attacks recorded in 2021 were under 100 Mbps, there were some notable exceptions.

After the largest attack of 2020 topped out at 253 Gbps, there was one that struck in February 2021 measuring 500 Gbps. The record was shattered again in November with an attack weighing in at 1,4 Tbps—more than five times larger than the previous year’s record.

Targeting an ISP/hosting customer, maximum attack bandwidth was reached in just 1,5 minutes, and lasted only four minutes in total, harnessing a combination of volumetric (DNS reflection) and application-layer (HTTPS GET floods) methods.

Volumetric attacks, which use publicly available tools and services to flood a target’s network with more bandwidth than it can handle, continued to be the most common form of DDoS in 2021, comprising 59% of all recorded attacks. This represented a slight decline from 66% in the previous year, as the prevalence of protocol and application-type DDoS attacks ticked up, the latter increasing by almost 5% year-on-year.

This slight shift was underlined by changing the utilisation of protocols. 27% of attacks in 2021 harnessed TCP, up from 17% the previous year, and indicative of the requirements of more complex application and protocol-based attacks.

In terms of specific attack methods, there were some notable changes in prevalence: DNS query attacks became more common, up 3,5% year-on-year and the use of UDP fragmentation declined 6.5%. LDAP reflection also diminished by 4,6% and DNS reflection by 3,3%.

“Alongside changes in attack type, we continued to observe strong prevalence of multivectored attacks, including the 1,4 Tbps incident that utilised a combination of DNS reflection and HTTPS GETS,” added Warburton. “This was particularly true at the start of the year, when multivectored attacks significantly outnumbered single-vector assaults. It illustrates the increasingly challenging landscape for threat protection, with defenders needing to employ more techniques in parallel to mitigate these more sophisticated attacks and prevent a denial of service.”

Banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) was the industry most targeted by DDoS attacks in 2021, subjected to more than a quarter of the total volume. That continued a trend which has seen attacks against BSFI steadily rising since the beginning of 2020.

By contrast, technology, the most targeted sector of 2020, fell into fourth place behind telecommunications and education. Between them, these four industries accounted for 75% of all recorded attacks, with a long tail of others including energy, retail, healthcare, transportation and legal that saw hardly any adverse activity.

“Even though the number of attacks tapered off slightly in 2021, the DDoS problem is by no means abating,” said Warburton. “Both the size and complexity of these attacks are increasing, demanding a more agile and multi-faceted response from defenders.

“Although it is reasonable to question the efficacy of attacks that may only last for a few minutes, threat actors know that even a short interruption to a service can have significant consequences and adversely impact brand and reputation.

“As the sophistication and variety of DDoS attacks increases, organisations will find themselves using a wide variety of measures to protect against them, including upstream controls to inspect and limit the traffic reaching endpoints, and managed service providers who can work alongside internal security teams both to prevent attacks and move quickly to mitigate those in progress.”