Huge Demand for the Network Security Industry

By Jenny Hu

In recent years， the construction of network security has been highly valued at the national level， and many laws and regulations such as Cybersecurity Law， Data Security Law， Personal Information Protection Law have been successively introduced， which means strong policy support for the development of China’s network security industry.

According to the data from iiMedia Research， in 2021， the scale of China’s network information security market reached RMB 92.68 billion. With the continuous implementation of policy stimulus and technological progress， the growth scale of China’s network information security market will further expand in the future， and it is estimated that the market scale will exceed RMB 140 billion in 2023.

Network security construction is on the agenda

According to the data from iiMedia Research， the number of Internet users in China has continued to grow. By the end of June 2021， the number of Internet users in China reached 1.01 billion， an increase of 7.6% compared with the same period of last year， accounting for 72.2% of the total population， of which mobile Internet users accounted for 99.6%.

According to the data from iiMedia Research， 41.9% of netizens have experienced network information leaks， and 9.7% of netizens don’t know whether information has been leaked. After encountering information leakage， most netizens choose to avoid entering private information （41.4%） and set passwords （36.9%） to reduce risks， while the number of users who choose to call the police is the lowest， only 20.1%. iiMedia Consulting analysts believe that under the massive information of the Internet， it is often difficult to know whether personal information is leaked and the source of information leakage， so netizens generally tend to protect information from independent behavior.

China’s network security incidents have increased rapidly since 2015. In that year， the number of network security incidents received and handled exceeded 120，000， a year-on-year increase of over 1.2 times. In 2020， China received 103，109 cyber security incidents and handled 103，112 cyber security incidents. iiMedia Consulting analysts believe that although the number of network security incidents in China decreased in 2020， it is still a large amount， and the network security situation is still grim. It is urgent to strengthen network security construction and reduce network security incidents from the source while intensifying efforts to deal with related incidents.

According to the data of iiMedia Research， 46.2% of netizens downloaded application software through the links shared by others. After the download was completed， 46.4% of netizens said that they would not be able to use the software without turning on their mobile phone rights. iiMedia Consulting analysts believe that there is a lack of official endorsement for download links， and there may be great security risks for netizens to download software through links.

Driven by many factors， network security has been highly valued at the national strategic level. In recent years， China has successively promulgated a series of policies and measures related to the construction of network security. In 2021， relevant regulations were promulgated particularly frequently， and many laws and regulations such as Data Security Law and Personal Information Protection Law were introduced. iiMedia Consulting analysts believe that the successive introduction of network security policies is not only conducive to raising the attention of the whole people to network security， improving the national network security protection capability， but also injecting strong policy support and development vitality into the development of the network security industry at the industrial level.

China’s network information security market has maintained a rapid growth trend since 2017， with an average growth rate of 22.5%. In 2021， the scale of China’s network information security market is expected to reach RMB 92.68 billion. It is estimated that the scale of China’s network information security market will exceed RMB 110 billion in 2022. iiMedia Consulting analysts believe that under the influence of a series of policies and continuous technological progress， the scale growth of China’s network information security market will further expand in the future， and it is estimated that the market scale will exceed RMB 140 billion in 2023.

The number of network security service enterprises continues to grow

The network security industry chain covers a wide range， covering data security， application security， security services， mobile security and other vertical fields， mainly including upstream grass-roots technology， midstream network security products and services， and downstream multidomain applications. Upstream technologies include industrial computer， server， integrated circuit， etc. Middle-stream network security products and services are mainly divided into hardware products， software products and security services. Downstream applications are extensive， and communication， finance and medical care are the key areas of network security governance.

In recent years， the number of network security service-related enterprises in China has continued to grow， especially in 2020， with the number of new enterprises exceeding 170，000， up 135.0% year-on-year. From January to October， 2021， the number of new enterprises exceeded 270，000. As of October 29， 2021， there are over 700，000 network security service enterprises in China. iiMedia Consulting analysts believe that the substantial increase in the number of China’s network security service enterprises is inseparable from the policy stimulus. In the future， more related enterprises will be born one after another， and network security construction will become the standard for the development of the Internet industry.

The data show that in 2021， there were 99 listed companies focusing on network security. Among them， in 2020， the top 10 enterprises with circulation market value accounting for more than 30.0% of network security business income are Sangfor Technologies， Qi-Anxin， China Greatwall Technology Group， Topsec Technologies Group， Venustech Group， Taiji， Das-security， TongTech， NSFOCUS and Xiamen Meiya Pico Information Co.， Ltd. iiMedia Consulting analysts believe that these top 10 enterprises basically operate diversified network security products and services， and can provide relatively comprehensive network security services for Internet development.

At present， many new network security enterprises are still in the initial stage. Existing network security enterprises mostly focus on comprehensive network security products and services. The market in the vertical segment of network security is still not saturated， and the number of enterprises is small. Stimulated by relevant policies such as “accelerating the cultivation of champion enterprises in cybersecurity and specialized， new and small giant enterprises”， and the increasing requirements of the market for network security construction， the market development potential in the vertical segment of network security is promising in the future.

According to the data of iiMedia Research， 67.3% of netizens have experienced online fraud， and 23.5% of them have suffered losses. After encountering online fraud， 33.3% of netizens did not choose to call the police， and the main reasons were lack of evidence （36.0%） and less loss（34.9%）. How to trace cybersecurity incidents has become an important issue for network security construction. iiMedia Consulting analysts believe that using the blockchain technology with decentralized distributed database to save all the interactive behavior records between different network entities may be able to provide a strong guarantee for network security traceability tracking and whole-process risk prevention and control. Helping victims and public security departments to find evidence of crimes is a business field that network security service providers can dig deep into.

According to the data from iiMedia Research， more than half of netizens （56.3%） will continue to pay attention to major network security incidents， and the proportion of netizens who don’t pay attention is extremely low， only 0.7%. In terms of network security training， 31.4% of netizens have never received any special training， and most netizens （40.6%） who have received special training have only received less training. iiMedia Consulting analysts believe that people pay more attention to cybersecurity at present， but the related specialized training is less， and there is a certain imbalance between supply and demand. The future development potential of the network security training market is worth looking forward to.

In addition， network security talents are an important driving force to support the sustainable development of the market. China Cybersecurity Review Technology and Certification Center has started to hold many professional qualification certifications such as Certified Information Security Assurance Worker （CISAW）， cybersecurity emergency response engineers and information system auditors. In July 2021， the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology put forward a number of goals for the training of cybersecurity talents. iiMedia Consulting analysts believe that in the future， with the continuous expansion of the network security market， the demand for network security professionals will further increase， and it is essential to strengthen systematic and large-scale training for network security professionals.