Security industry "out of gas"? Not.

I cannot resist taking umbrage to the following found in a neighboring blog today:

When I last asked long time Zone Labs executive Fred Felman for his assessment (Felman has exited the security business for now and is pursuing other opportunities), the only thing he would say on the record is that he thinks the security business "is beat" right now (as in "out of gas"). - David Berlind

With all due respect to Mr. Felman, I think he is way off base. Perhaps because he is out of it he is blind to what is happening. Just in the last two weeks I have come across several dozen companies in the security space that demonstrate that there is no gas shortage in cyber security. Companies that are beating their first year’s revenue every month. Companies that are still in stealth mode but getting ready to launch. Companies that are only rumors, the people in the know sworn to secrecy via NDAs.

There are three things that ensure a growing (accelerating) security space. 1.) Microsoft. Far from introducing the solution Microsoft is the cause of wide spread vulnerabilities. 2.) Advances in web applications. If you have not tuned into what is going on in this space dig into it now. It is all about exposed APIs to web applications and the mash-ups that are putting them all together (see Richard MacManus' blog on web 2.0).  Of course these are rolling out without any thought to security. 3.) And finally the threats are growing and more real than ever before. Ever.

Watch this space for more on each of these three drivers.