The Yankee Group Reports the Host Intrusion Prevention Market is Early in its Life Cycle

Business Wire, April 7, 2003

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 7, 2003

New report finds many potential customers are investigating their options while vendors spend significant energy on education and evangelism.

The Yankee Group report, "Host Intrusion Prevention is the Last Line of Defense for Networks," says enterprises that once thought they were secure because they had firewalls, now think differently. They understand that the proliferation of communication methods, such as HTTP, SSL, SMTP, IM, and active code built on Java and ActiveX, has forced the security perimeter back to Internet-facing application servers and desktops.

A new market segment of security software, called host intrusion prevention (HIP), has risen to protect network assets against damage from unknown attacks. Rather than relying solely on scanning data for signatures of known attacks, HIP software works with the operating system kernel to block abnormal application behavior in the expectation that the abnormal behavior represents an unknown attack.

The Yankee Group estimates the emerging market for HIP products and services was $60 million in 2002, and predicts it will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 52.7 percent to $520 million by 2007.

"The effect of the upward surge in contagious attacks, and the rapid rate at which these attacks propagate has left enterprise security officers virtually helpless against new outbreaks," says Eric Ogren, Yankee Group Security Solutions & Services senior analyst. "The mission of HIP is clear: prevent damage to network servers and desktops from unknown attacks. It is much more economical for the enterprise to invest in ounces of intrusion prevention, than it is to invest in pounds of after-attack cures."

NOTE TO EDITORS

For interviews, contact Eric Ogren, eogren@yankeegroup.com.

THE YANKEE GROUP (www.yankeegroup.com)

The Yankee Group is a global leader in technology research, analysis, and consulting. The company helps businesses understand the opportunities, risks, and competitive pressures of developing, deploying, and consuming products and services that drive communication or information exchange. Now in its fourth decade, the Yankee Group is based in Boston with offices throughout North America, Europe, Latin America, and the Pacific Rim.