The growing interest in cloud-based solutions has led to an increased adoption of new security services - but also the development of new threats. Here are some findings from recent surveys and research.

• 41% of global small medium businesses do not have a disaster recovery plan in place, and haven’t even thought about it, according to a Symantec survey.
• However, in light of the recent events many New Zealand businesses are reviewing and increasing spend on business continuity and disaster recovery plans.
• The number of Safecom (Gen-i’s cloud security services suite) user licences consumed by customers has grown by over 25% in the last year.
• Trojans and malware currently make up the highest proportion of threats stopped by the Safecom SecureWeb service.
• Spend on cloud computing readiness assessments and migration to cloud computing services is increasing, according to Safecom metrics.
• Annual losses resulting from cybercrime are valued at US$388 billion, while the illicit trades of marijuana, heroin and cocaine combined amount to an estimated US$288 billion (Symantec).
• Recent research by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs estimates that New Zealanders lose around $448 million a year to scammers.
• The Ministry of Consumer Affairs receives around 3,500 scam reports a year – the number one reported scam is lottery and prize scams, followed by phishing scams.
• The Asia-Pacific (excluding Japan) security software market was worth US$755 million in the second half of 2010 (IDC).
• In New Zealand, security software market revenue is forecast to total NZ$80.1 million in 2011, up 7.2% from 2010 (Gartner).
• Identity and Access Management and Security and Vulnerability Management are the fastest growing markets in APEJ – expected to grow 17% in 2011 and reach US$375 million and US$161 million respectively (IDC).
• 10% of global attack traffic originates from Taiwan, according to a report from Akamai Technologies. Myanmar takes second place with 9.1%, followed by the US at 8.3% (SecurityWeek).
• A 2011 Nielsen study among 600 randomly selected adult Americans showed that over 50% don’t click online ads because they are afraid of receiving spam from advertisers or worried about getting a virus (SecurityWeek).