Breaches, Compliance Fuel Database Security Growth

Fueled by a continuing need to meet compliance requirements and enterprises' fear of becoming the next big hack, the database security market is continuing to grow--with a few twists, experts say.

According to various industry estimates, the database activity monitoring (DAM) market tipped the scales at around $200 million in 2010, and by all accounts, it is growing like a weed. In the last month alone, Imperva filed a $75 million initial public offering (IPO), Green SQL raised a new round of funding for $3.5 million, and Application Security brought back one of its initial founders, Jack Hembrough, to lead the company as CEO once again.

Market growth in the DAM space is driven largely by the need for compliance, but a number of other factors are also beginning to show their weight, observers say.

As enterprises begin to see how DAM fits into their overall IT framework, they're asking for tools that also can streamline security practices and technology in specific ways--whether for operations, Web app security, security information and event management integration, or simpler patching. These demands have driven the way that the market has consolidated and evolved, and analysts expect the trend to continue that way.

"[DAM offerings are] all being bundled in different ways with supporting technologies to do other things," says Adrian Lane, security analyst and CTO for Securosis, a consulting firm.

"If you look at the way that Guardium bundles the technology with other technologies like masking, with assessments, you're looking at a corporate operations model," Lane explains. "If you look at the way Imperva is wrapping the technology with Web application firewalls and file activity monitoring, that is a Web app security model. Or if you look at Green SQL, that's a database performance model, almost like a database accelerator that does security as well as performance."

But compliance still rules the market, experts say. "Compliance remains significant, with regulatory initiatives such as PCI requirements for controls on database access and separation-of-duties issues requiring vigilance over database access and manipulation," said Scott Crawford, analyst for Enterprise Management Associates. "The continued prevalence of threats to applications remains significant, however, with attacks such as SQL injection sadly remaining all too common, and sensitive database data a frequent target."

According to Crawford, monitoring for anomalous activity is the primary focus for most DAM users.

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