We can already say that 2011 has shown us how vulnerable businesses and governments are in the area of IT and information security.

Several major companies were insufficient secure this year or resistant to digital intrusions. The latest example of course the break-in at Diginotar which made much of the government communication in one blow unreliable.

The recent released Norton Cybercrime report confirmed that in the Netherlands and the rest of the world cyber crime is big business in which the total financial loss and lost time in monetary terms amounted to 388 billion Dollars.

The importance of IT security has increased exponentially and which companies are there to take advantage of this?

The Dutch IT security industry consists of known players specialized in IT security and compliance areas such as FOX-IT, BWise, Pinewood and InfoSecure. Also big workspace and network integrators such as ATOS, and Getronics / KPN recently enjoyed the spotlight again with the Diginotar fail.

On the software side, the IT distri's increased demand for new security products is to be divided among each other. Or is consolidation in this sector also a fact?

It is becoming clear that the security breaches can't be solved with technical software and hardware solutions alone in larger organizations. Without the necessary 'awareness' education and training in management and employees, a crucial link is missing. A coherent set of Governance, Risk Assessment & Compliance (GRC) procedures should be embedded in the organization.

In this context, of course, the recent fraud in the dealing room at UBS (loss EUR 2 billion) in London was of course very eye-catching.

In the small and medium enterprises, central servers are often placed in Data Centers (DC) where the computer servers are hosted or outsourced . The information security issues focuses more on the organizational security side there since the technical problems are in fact outsourced to the DC organization.

It is for these companies to respond to the increased security issues. M&A is an option that is often sought to improve the market position and to benefit from the economies of scale or to complete the range of products and services.