In Depth

4 Steps to the Security Industry's Economic Survival

We all know the economy is in bad shape. At SOURCE Boston 2009, Martin Roesch and other security industry heavyweights offered these tips for surviving the bad times and preparing to thrive when skies brighten

By Bill Brenner, Senior Editor

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2. Help companies boost productivity
If you work for a company or you're a vendor trying to sell a new security tool, Kuper suggests trying to convince your target audience that you have something to offer that'll address today's fundamental need of doing more with less.

He noted that the current recession is a new experience for the security industry as a whole. Many security companies and individuals came into their own after the last recession in 2001-2002, and for them doing more with less is a new experience.

With that in mind, Kuper said people are looking for security tools, services and software that'll help boost productivity. (For example, see How to Make a Business Case for Identity Management.) Vital ingredients for this include broad scalability and seemingly reasonable pricing. No vendor wants to give their product away, but if they can offer companies a good deal now, the customer will probably remember and appreciate it in the future.

3. Show your importance by forcing the vendor's hand
For new security start-ups, a key to success today will be in how one exploits the precarious position larger and more established vendors are in.

The same rule applies for individuals who want to strengthen their hand in their current place of employment.

To that end, Kuper said the time is right to push security vendors hard. In the quest for the best pricing and quality, playing vendors like Symantec and McAfee against each other is a logical course. If there's an existing vendor who has succeeded in getting more money out of you in recent years, it's time to turn the tables.

"Security companies will be more willing to give discounts right now," Kuper said. "They can't afford to lose existing customers, so take advantage of that."

4. Find and exploit silver linings in the cloud
While this may be a good time to start a new venture, some of the established security vendors at SOURCE said they have no plans to throw in the towel, including Sourcefire Founder and CTO Martin Roesch. Despite the economic downturn, he says there are things a company will always have to spend money on. Sourcefire's plan is to convince those companies that its products are the strongest and most cost-effective way to maintain security in the midst of the recession.

"At Sourcefire, despite the economic environment, we grew pretty substantially in the last year," said Roesch, creator of the widely popular Snort open source IDS tool. "Despite the macro conditions, PCI DSS doesn't go away, HIPAA doesn't go away, so we in security can be thankful we're in the industry we're in."