CAIRO: "The Egyptian market for antivirus software is booming, Wael Hosny of Value SYS said Monday at IDC's IT Security Roadshow in Cairo. Hosny heads Value SYS, which is the distributor of Kaspersky products in Egypt. Since they started working with the Russian antivirus software leader four years ago, Value SYS has not seen growth fall below 100 percent. Two years ago they also registered a surprising jump in retail sales, which by now have reached about 30 percent of their profits. As businesses and individuals' activities become increasingly dependent on the internet, the need for protection grows as well. "Everyone is looking to legalize software and have product support, added Hosny, pointing out that the Egyptian government recently issued a law to tackle software piracy. The Egyptian Ministry of Communications' most recent report estimates that there are around 13 million internet users in Egypt, about 17 percent of the population. Compared to saturated markets like the United States (more than 70 percent of Americans use the internet), the number might seem small, but security software companies see in it abundant opportunity. Kaspersky Lab started in an Egyptian market that was almost completely monopolized by Symantec, and now they have reached a solid second position with more than 600 corporate clients. Other companies are also eager to jump on the wave of technological modernization and advancement taking over the Middle East. Mukesh Chulani, a senior analyst at IDC, the host of the conference, pointed out in his opening speech that with the advent of Web 2.0 there will be more and more vulnerabilities that will give rise to Crime 2.0. IT security firms, however, are already getting ready to handle it. The audience at the IT security conference heard various experts' solutions for the newly emerging threats; topics like DLP (Data Loss Protection), security of virtual data, external security threats, and environment-friendly data centers were addressed. Today these innovative ideas might sound too foreign to the Egyptian businessman or entrepreneur, but in the near future, they have the potential to become common practice. Issues of breached security can be, indeed, costly. According to IDC's research, 52 percent of surveyed business employees in Egypt admitted to data leakages and errors that can cost their companies more than $100,000. At the same time, profits of internet criminals can reach equally big proportions; Sergey Golovanov, senior malware analyst at Kasperky Lab estimates that spamming limited to one online network or instant messenger can earn the spammer up to $120,000 in five months. "According to Internet World Stats (IWS), Egypt has seen an exponential growth of 2,693 per cent in internet usage between 2000 and 2009 and this alone is enough to make the country Africa's most appealing target for cyber space criminals, said Golovanov in a statement. "A sizeable proportion of the 12.5 million Egyptians who use the internet are active on social networking media, however a very small percentage of them are fully aware of the dangers this type of online activity can pose. According to Kaspersky Lab, malicious code distributed via social networking sites is 10 times more effective than malware spread via email. Major Web 2.0 platforms such as Facebook or Twitter are highly vulnerable to malware attacks and end-users need to be aware of the risks and be ready to take precautionary measures to protect themselves. The Egyptian government is also taking IT security and development seriously. Hosny said that the Egyptian internet infrastructure is the best in the Middle East, and the country is becoming an important data hub, as optic cables coming from Europe under the Mediterranean Sea are passing through Egypt to reach their destinations in Asia. Recognizing Egypt's potential in IT, the government is pushing further infrastructural development to copy the Indian model of stimulating outsourcing, call centers, and IT content development. Already international players like IBM, Oracle and Microsoft have moved in. Exporting IT Arabization to the rest of the Middle East is also a major opportunity for Egypt. On the whole, the IT security industry in Egypt seems optimistic not only about the near future, but also about the present financial crisis. "There are signs of improvement, concluded the IT experts. According to a December 2008 IDC report, the bulk of growth in Egypt's IT spending will come from a steep increase in personal computer sales, making a general public awareness campaign about the threats associated with online networking a must-have, rather than just a nice-to-have, according to Golovanov.
