Software security solutions provider bullish of growth potential in PHL

CEBU, Philippines - Secure content and threat management solutions company Kaspersky Lab is going to take advantage of the increasing demand for security management solutions in the Philippines, as companies from small to large corporations are recognizing the importance of data security in their respective operations.

“The way we do things is different. Yes, there are the other software security companies already having a market-share in the Philippines but there is a lot more room to grow and we believe there are a lot more opportunities now especially with all types of companies now becoming more proactive in securing their business from high-tech attacks,” said Jimmy Fong, Kaspersky Lab Southeast Asia channel sales director.

There are about one million registered businesses in the Philippines from small-to-medium scale enterprises, which account for nearly 90 percent of all registered businesses, to large corporations.

According to the International Data Corporation (IDC), information technology spending in the Philippines is expected to grow to US$3.63 billion by the end of 2011.

This already points to considerable potential for the IT network security industry to serve the business sector, he said.

Fong announced that the company intends to grow their market share in the Philippines by 20 percent in the next two years.

Despite the presence of several other security providers, Kaspersky Lab executives said they will have a more strategic approach in the business sector in the Philippines.

Fong said that they have been receiving numerous queries for their services in the Philippines in the past months, owing it to the strong brand of their consumer-level Kaspersky Lab security products.

He said they have gradually built their reputation in the Philippines to gain market acceptance in the business sector.

The company will extensively build more channel partnerships in the Philippines to accommodate the network security requirements of local companies starting this year, he said.

In Cebu, several retail and corporate resellers work with Kaspersky Lab Philippine distributor iSecure Networks to make the products widely available to the Visayan market.

Fong said many cyber-criminals are veering away from attacking individual PCs due to the lower profit margins they get from single users. Instead, they are putting more effort in infiltrating enterprises as this sector offers more financial gains. Apart from stealing personal data, cyber-criminals also conduct corporate espionage and steal business data.

He also said cyber-crime rings are joining forces to develop more sophisticated malwares. For instance, the Stuxnet worm attack from last year demonstrated that such tools have impressive capabilities. Programs similar to Stuxnet will become integrated in malwares developed by organized cybercriminals to attack companies.

“Most companies are not aware of these types of weapons used by organized cybercriminals simply because they’re very new. Nevertheless, business owners will always want to be secured and many of them are approaching us specifically for this end,” Fong said.

Kaspersky Lab recently released an updated version of its Kaspersky Lab Open Space Security (KOSS), a full security suite that covers multiple IT platforms. It provides protection against all types of Internet threats and can be installed in Microsoft Windows and Linux-based servers, as well as Macs.