Global spending on security products and services is to reach over $114 billion in 2018, Gartner reports-- a 12.4% increase over 2017, with the market growth further (specifically by 8.7%) in 2019 to reach $124bn.

"Security leaders are striving to help their organisations securely use technology platforms to become more competitive and drive growth for the business," the analyst says. "Persisting skills shortages and regulatory changes like the EU’s Global Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) are driving continued growth in the security services market."

A 2017 Gartner survey involving 480 respondents in 8 countries (Australia, Canada, France, Germany, India, Singapore, the UK and US) reveals the top 3 security spending drivers are security risks, business needs and industrial changes, with privacy concerns as an upcoming key factor. The analyst says privacy concerns will drive at least 10% of security spending through 2019, and will impact segments including identity and access management (IAM), identity governance and administration (IGA) and data loss prevention (DLP).

WatchGuard Technologies launches an update of the software powering its Firebox Unified Security Platform appliances-- Fireware version 12.2, now with an artificial intelligence engine able to predict, detect and block zero-day malware.

Dubbed IntelligentAV, the antivirus scan service joins the Threat Detection and Response (TDR), Gateway AntiVirus, and APT Blocker features as an additional layer of industry-leading malware defense on the Firebox platform. It is based on Cylance malware detection technology, and uses machine learning to predict and detect future malware samples even without access to the latest threat intelligence and signature databases.

Cisco announces the $2.35 billion acquisition of Duo Security, a Michigan-based provider of unified access security and multi-factor authentication delivered through the cloud.

Founded in 2010 by Dug Song and Jonathan Oberheie, Duo Security sells solutions for the verification of user identity and device health before granting access to applications. As such, the integration of Cisco network, device and cloud security platforms with Duo Security zero-trust authentication and access products should allow customers to easily and securely connect to any application on any networked device.

The Department of Homeland Security issues an alert of potential vulnerabilities in Oracle and SAP enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, following a report from security firms Onapsis and Digital Shadows.

The security firms state firms in the UK, US and Germany are at most risk from the threat-- and warn state-sponsored actors and hacktivists groups are targeting ERP applications used by large businesses to steal sensitive data, such as financial results, manufacturing secrets and credit card numbers. In fact, systems at two government agencies and media, energy and finance firms have already been hit, following failure to install patches and take other security measures.