Cloud-Based Security Services Market to Reach $4.2 Billion by 2016.

By 2015, 10 percent of overall IT security enterprise product capabilities will be delivered in the cloud, according to new research from analyst firm Gartner, Inc.

According to the firm, cloud services are driving changes in the security market landscape, particularly around secure email and secure Web gateways, remote vulnerability assessment, and Identity and Access Management (IAM). Gartner expects the cloud-based security services market to reach $4.2 billion by 2016.

[See Also: Can the Cloud Ever be Safe?]

A January 2013 Gartner survey on security spending shows high demand from security buyers for cloud-based security service offerings. Security buyers from the U.S. and Europe, representing a cross section of industries and company sizes, stated that they plan to increase the consumption of several common cloud services during the next 12 months. The highest-consumed cloud-based security service is email security services, with 74 percent of respondents rating this as the top service, according to Gartner.

Furthermore, 27 percent of the respondents indicated they were considering deploying tokenization as a cloud service. Another area that is likely to experience high growth is security information and event management (SIEM) as a service, the report states, adding that much of the interest is attributed to regulatory compliance concerns and security buyers' need to reduce costs in the area of log management, compliance reporting and security event monitoring. However, many customers in the enterprise segment will remain cautious about sending sensitive log information to cloud services, and this will continue to be an important aspect for security-as-a-service providers to address, according to Gartner.

"Demand remains high from buyers looking to cloud-based security services to address a lack of staff or skills, reduce costs, or comply with security regulations quickly," said Eric Ahlm, research director at Gartner, in a statement. "This shift in buying behavior from the more traditional on-premises equipment toward cloud-based delivery models offers good opportunities for technology and service providers with cloud delivery capabilities, but those without such capabilities need to act quickly to adapt to this competitive threat."

Bryan Yurcan is associate editor for Bank Systems and Technology. He has worked in various editorial capacities for newspapers and magazines for the past 8 years. After beginning his career as a municipal and courts reporter for daily newspapers in upstate New York, Bryan has ... View Full Bio