Information Security or Security Software? 4 ways to be reassured

What is Information Security all about?

In modern times, any computer program designed to influence Information Security is considered computer security software or cybersecurity software. Then, a computer program is a set of instructions written in a programming language that can be executed or interpreted by a computer.

In order to understand each notion in the first sentence, Information Security refers to the practice of mitigating risk to information. Hence, it belongs to the Risk Management field. Information Security involves preventing or reducing the chances of unauthorized/improper access to data, as well as the unlawful use, disclosure, disruption, deletion, corruption, modification, inspection, recording, or devaluation of information.

At the core of information security is information assurance, the act of maintaining the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information, ensuring that information is not compromised in any way when critical issues arise.
Wikipedia

Based on free, public and dedicated content, an Information Security department’s primary focus is to protect information based on a balanced approach of confidentiality, integrity, and accessibility, as well as to maintain an efficient policy implementation process without hindering normal operations. In order to achieve this, a structured risk management approach must be applied, which includes:

Describing the whole industry involved

According to a research expert from Statista, the largest source of market and consumer analytics, in her October 27, 2020 topic titled “Information security – Statistics & Facts“, we are dealing here with a huge market that will be worth $174.7 billion worldwide by 2024. Financially speaking, and certainly, in terms of business implications, Information Security is no joke.

Given it’s importance in today’s information age, the IT security market is expected to continue growing in 2020, despite the overall decline of ICT spending in that year due to the negative economic impact brought about by the global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Shanhong Liu, Statista

As she begins her post, she provides her own definition of this industry, which is devoted to businesses and institutions: Information Security refers to managing access to information, whether it’s protecting information from unauthorized access or verifying the identity of those who want to access the information. Among consumers, Information Security may be as simple as using passwords to restrict access to computer equipment, or installing firewalls and anti-virus software to guard desktop computers and other electronic devices against malicious attacks.

With a descriptive overview, market segments, actors and major companies who compete, consumption and trends, and an in-depth look at cyber attacks and malware infections, her article is incredibly comprehensive and references many reliable statistics.

She also published on October 16, 2020, a chart showing the evolution of Information Security market size from 2016 to 2024, but in order to access it, you’ll need to subscribe to a Statista $39 Single Account. If you want more & fresh information on this industry, I highly recommend both links.

Scope and activities related to Information Security

Gartner, a Stamford, Connecticut-based technology research and consulting company proposed on May, 2021 a segmentation of the Information Security market, followed by Statista in this limited chart page. Ten different segments, ten different categories of Information Security were generated, each with millions of dollars of spending and a market share from 2017 to 2021:

1. Application Security, measures at the application level that aim to prevent data or code within the app from being stolen or hijacked
2. Cloud Security, the protection of data stored online via cloud computing platforms from theft, leakage, and deletion
3. Data Security, the practice of protecting digital information from unauthorized access, corruption, or theft throughout its entire lifecycle
4. Identity Access Management (IAM), a framework of business processes, policies and technologies that facilitates the management of electronic or digital identities
5. Infrastructure Protection, the securisation of critical business application infrastructure and protecting technology, systems and business assets
6. Integrated Risk Management, the risk management procedures followed by an organisation to improve its risk visibility and decision-making process in ways that help it thrive on risk
7. Network Security Equipment, a set of rules and configurations designed to protect the integrity, confidentiality and accessibility of computer networks and data using software & hardware tech.
8. Security Services, a processing or communication service that enhances the security of the data processing systems and the information transfers of an organisation
9. Consumer Security Software, solutions covering: ransomware protection, password managers, firewalls, phishing protection, cookie and pop-up or ad blocking
10. Other Information Security Software for all unquoted and miscellaneous security cases.

Over the next few years, the global spending on Information Security is projected to increase from 101.5 billion U.S. dollars in 2017 to 150.4 billion in 2021, or a 12.4 percent growth from 2020. Investments have been focused on network security equipment, security services, and infrastructure protection, and approximately 72.5 billion dollars will be spent by 2021 on security services.

Companies across all industries have increasingly emphasized cybersecurity risk management, transforming the role of the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) into an integral part of the organisation. We have a new key position to discuss.

Information Security’s big boss: the CISO

If we refer to what was said in October 2021 by the editorial team and pool of IT professionals from TechTarget (Nasdaq: TTGT), a global leader in purchase intent marketing and sales services that deliver real business results for enterprise technology providers: a Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) is a senior-level executive tasked with creating and implementing an Information Security program, which includes policies and procedures that will protect internal and external enterprise communications, systems, and assets.

A CISO is typically a skilled leader and manager with a strong understanding of information technology and security, who can communicate complicated security concepts to both technical and nontechnical employees.
TechTarget

He or she may be responsible for conducting security awareness training for employees, implementing secure business and communication practices, choosing and purchasing security products from vendors, ensuring that the organization adheres to rules for relevant bodies, and enforcing compliance with security practices. In addition to procuring cybersecurity products and services, the CISO may also oversee the development of disaster recovery plans and business continuity plans in collaboration with the Chief Information Officer (CIO).

He or she might simply be referred to as the Chief Security Officer (CSO) when he or she is responsible for the overall security of the company, which includes its employees and facilities. Data from Glassdoor shows that the average salary for Chief Security Officers is €67,000 in Germany, but $218,000 in California. Germany pays CISOs a base salary of €110,200, which is similar to the minimum salary for CSOs in the United States.

Chief Information Security Officers may also be known as Chief Security Architects (CSA), Chief Security Managers (CSM) or Information Security Managers (ISMs), depending on the type of organisation they work for. That sounds like a lot of acronyms for one similar job title!

The world’s top 30 cybersecurity technology providers

Now that we have clarified Information Security and Security Software, let us review a ranking published by eSecurity Planet and TechnologyAdvice in October 2021 of the 30 cybersecurity technology leaders in the world. All for the sake of brand recognition.

Usually we use PC Magazine’s rankings as context for our Contextual Definitions, but here it’s different since the topic is not limited to one software, covering as explained all related activities or categories. Information Security is a broad domain, so it’s more appropriate to discuss leading vendors instead of editions brand names: