Regulatory Compliance Concerns Drive Adoption of Emerging Information Leakage Detection and Preventi

TEL AVIV, March 21, 2005 - After years of focusing mostly on protecting themselves against external threats, organizations are becoming acutely aware of the internal threat of information leaks, according to a new IDC study. This awareness is driven mainly by recent information-intensive regulations that require organizations to maintain the integrity of customer and employee private information, as well as sensitive corporate digital assets. In addition, several technology and business trends, such as the growing exposure to instant messaging and peer-to-peer applications, and the proliferation of mobile devices in corporate environments further intensify the potential for data loss, spurring organizations to establish best practices to mitigate these risks.

The study, which analyzes emerging technologies and the start-up companies bringing them to market, explores different approaches aimed at preventing unauthorized delivery of sensitive information via network and desktop channels, and provides an overview of the latest market dynamics and future scenarios. Key findings include:
· More vendors are moving to provide prevention capabilities rather than detection-only to meet customers' regulatory compliance requirements.
· Network-based solution providers are increasingly partnering with email encryption providers to create a comprehensive outbound messaging security offering.
· Convergence between desktop and network solutions has already begun and will intensify over the near term.
· ILD&P solutions are expected to be integrated into existing functional markets such as messaging security, content management, and endpoint security.

"The market for information leakage detection and prevention solutions, driven mainly by regulatory compliance concerns, is rapidly evolving," said Dan Yachin, research director at IDC EMEA Emerging Technologies. "Over the coming years, these emerging solutions, heralded by start-up companies, will see increasing demand. IDC believes that the market opportunity will lead established vendors to enter this space by acquiring start-up companies in order to expand their current portfolio of products."

IDC's EMEA Emerging Technologies research provides in-depth analysis of emerging technologies and full ecosystem information, including start-up companies, activities of established vendors, regulatory and standardization processes, M&A scenarios and investment activity for technology vendors, investment banking, private equity and venture capital investors, and system integrators.

For more information on the study, Information Leakage Detection and Prevention: Turning Security Inside Out (Doc #EMT01M, March 2005), please contact your local IDC office or visit www.idc.com.

About IDC
IDC is the premier global market intelligence and advisory firm in the information technology and telecommunications industries. We analyze and predict technology trends so that our clients can make strategic, fact-based decisions on IT purchases and business strategy. Over 700 IDC analysts in 50 countries provide local expertise and insights on technology markets. Business executives and IT managers have relied for 40 years on our advice to make decisions that contribute to the success of their organizations.

IDC is a subsidiary of IDG, the world's leading technology media, research, and events company. Additional information can be found at www.idc.com
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For more information, contact:
Asaf Lev
+972-3-5611660
alev@idc.com