Websense, Inc. has announced that IDC recently named Websense the global leader of the Web security market with 21 percent share of the $1.2 billion dollar market—providing Web security protection and addressing emerging security challenges including Web 2.0 technologies and data loss prevention for organisations worldwide.

A growing market, IDC forecasts the Web Security market to grow from $1.2 billion in 2006 to $2.3 billion in 2011. Websense’s market share is more than the combined total market share of the next two largest Web security vendors. 

According to the study, "Worldwide Web Security 2007-2011 Forecast and 2006 Vendor Shares"  by IDC Analyst Brian Burke, the demand and interest in Web security solutions is being fueled by corporate concerns about Internet threats that have become increasingly complex. Some of the key Web security trends identified by IDC include Web 2.0 technologies, blended Web-based threats and data loss prevention.  

"The increasing popularity of Web 2.0 is opening the door for both inbound and outbound security risks. Coupled with the growing sophistication of blended Web-based attacks, IDC anticipates that Web security vendors will absolutely need to be able to monitor Web traffic bi-directionally," said Brian Burke, program director for IDC’s Security Products program. "As the Web security leader, Websense is well-positioned to address the market trends we’ve identified—with a solution set that includes Web security, e-mail and hosted security as well as data loss prevention. We believe that Websense solutions will continue to play a critical role in protecting organizations from emerging threats."

"Websense was the first to forecast that the Web would become the largest threat vector and that hackers would increasingly use the Web to launch attacks for financial gain.  We built Web security solutions to protect our customers worldwide," said Leo Cole, vice president of marketing, Websense.  "As the Web security leader, we are addressing today’s biggest security challenges, which include the proliferation of Web 2.0 technologies and protecting confidential data for our customers around the world."