Security has long been a top-tier, if not the No. 1, concern of enterprise IT professionals. But given the growing sophistication of the world’s hackers – which have gone from hobbyists to organizations – and the move of more of our vital infrastructure and intellectual property to the online realm – security has become even more important.

New research from ReportsnReports.com illustrates that reality. The report indicates the global cybersecurity market, which in 2015 was worth $11.4 billion, will reach $17.3 billion by 2025.

Among the drivers of increased spending on the cybersecurity front, according to the Global Cyber Security Market 2015-2025 research report, are the dynamic nature of cyber threats and the growing use of cloud storage systems.

Network security will account for 44 percent of that total spending, ResearchnResearch suggests. Data security, and identity and access security, will account for 25 percent and 16 percent, respectively, according to the firm. And cloud security will account for 15 percent, it says.

Specific technologies positioned to benefit from the growth in security spending include FlowID10G, machine learning, network-based IP sensors, and signcryption, the report indicates.

North America will account for 56 percent of market share. Asia-Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, Latin America, and Africa are next, in that order.

Among the companies mentioned in the ReportsnReports.com research are Airbus DS Communications, BAE Systems Detica, Booz Allen Hamilton, Camber Corp., CACI, Check Point Software (News - Alert) Technologies, CRGT, Digital Management Inc., General Dynamics, KEYW, Lockheed Martin Corp., Mantech International Corp., NetCentrics (Hyastax Technology), Northrop Grumman, Panda Security, Raytheon, and Thales.

In another recently released report on security, IHS Infonetics (News - Alert) noted that the first half of 2015 was “fantastic” for the top four network security vendors, which are Cisco, Check Point, Fortinet, and Palo Alto Networks, which posted double-digit growth in the second quarter from that same quarter the prior year. The IHS Infonetics Network Security Appliances and Software report, which was released in mid-September, looked at Array Networks, CA, Check Point, Cisco, Citrix, D-Link, Dell, Extreme Networks, eSoft, F5, Fortinet, GTA, HP, Huawei (News - Alert), ISS, Juniper, McAfee, NetASQ, Palo Alto Networks, WatchGuard, ZyXel, and others.

At TMC Editor’s Day Silicon Valley in November, I met with a variety of security solution providers.

That included a conversation with Evident.io CEO and co-founder Tim Prendergast,

who explained how the company brings scalable security to DevOps teams using AWS. The company delivers more than 130 preset security controls and supports custom signatures at well, all of which are automated to allow for the rapid scaling that’s needed in this new world of programmable networks that is exemplified by Amazon Web Services.

Bill Mann of Centrify spoke about how this company makes security easier, rather than an impediment to productivity. Centrify has integrations with Dropbox and Google (News - Alert) for Work. These integrations mean that individuals using Centrify, and who already authenticated on its portal when they sat down at their computers at the beginning of their work session, don’t need to sign on again with Dropbox (News - Alert) or Google for Work. That’s good for knowledge workers because it creates for them an experience with less friction, Mann said, and it’s good for the enterprise because it provides security via multifactor authentication and a higher level of control.

The event also fostered my discussion with Infoblox about security challenges and the company’s growth. Infoblox sells DNS, DHCP, and IP address management – or DDI – solutions. In fact, with about half the market share in the DDI space, Infoblox is considered the leader in this product category.

SafeLogic CEO Ray Potter talked about how his company can help security solution vendors get their offerings to market faster. SafeLogic creates encryption modules for servers, mobile operating systems, and other IT environments. These modules are designed for compliance with things like the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPPA), the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX), and the Federal Information Processing Standard Publication 140-2.

I spoke with MobileIron about how enterprise mobility management is becoming the center of end user computing management, and security.  MobileIron’s software can be used to secure iPhones, Android devices, and soon Windows 10 endpoints as well. When people buy a device it ships with a container, which is built into the device’s OS but not yet activated; they can turn up the container by installing the MobileIron app.

And Vidder talked about its software-defined perimeter service. It configures VPNs per person, and nothing during this process is cached.