South Korean Managed Security Services Market, Forecast to 2023

Lack of Skilled Professionals and Compliance Pressure Drive MSS Adoption

The South Korean managed security services (MSS) market is mainly categorized into 2 service types: dispatch professionals to customer sites and monitoring from security operations centers (SOCs). Customer requests for a hybrid of both service types have increased with the growing adoption of security information and event management (SIEM) at the customer site. The lack of professionals to analyze internal log has been the main factor driving this request.

Manufacturing, government, and service provider are the main verticals adopting MSS in South Korea. MSS adoption in the banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI) vertical recorded good growth as the banking sector requested for a hybrid of dispatch professionals and monitoring from SOCs in 2018.

Owing to the growing adoption of cloud security services, the uptake of hosted security services (HSS) and management and monitoring services (MMS) witnessed flat growth. Local security vendors such as Secui and Piolink penetrated the MSS market backed by strong branding strategies, primarily competing on cost.

Major local MSSPs such as SK infosec, IGLOO SECURITY, and AhnLab are trying to add AI technologies into their MSS portfolios. SK infosec has developed and leveraged machine learning for positive and false-positive categorization and integrated it to its MSS system. IGLOO SECURITY has developed D-Security, a solution that leverages both machine learning and SIEM for Daegu City IDC.

In addition to providing a market growth analysis, this study highlights the key drivers in the managed security services market. These include persistent lack of cybersecurity professionals; the proliferation of cyberattacks and a growing threat landscape for enterprises and governments; growing risk and security awareness among end-users in the APAC region; and government support for cybersecurity development and adoption.

Market trends are analyzed from 2017 to 2023, taking 2018 as the base year. MSS is the key focus area of this study. The vertical segmentation includes government, BFSI, service provider, manufacturing, education, and other sectors (including pharmaceuticals, retail, logistics, oil and gas, energy, mining, agriculture, IT/ITES, eGaming, eCommerce, and BPOs).

Companies mentioned in the total MSS market's competitive landscape include AhnLab, AT&T, CyberOne, IBM, IGLOO SECURITY, KT, LG Uplus, NexG, SK infosec, and other smaller managed security service providers.

Key Issues Addressed

• Is the market growing? If yes, how long will it continue to grow and at what rate?
• Which are the key services adopted by customers in the market?
• How is the competitive landscape in South Korea?
• Will MSSPs be replaced by new trends such as insourcing and cloud-based security services?
• How will the market evolve in the next 5 years?