Research firm IDC points out at a sharp surge in the number of cyberattacks on websites of leading financial firms and other important organisations last year. IDC says cybercriminals are exploiting thousands of networked PCs (botnets) to 'jam' a website by directing massive traffic to it, leading it to crash.

IDC adds such incidents have propelled the demand for proactive solutions worldwide. The research firm predicts global market for cyber security solutions will grow to $870 million by 2017.

“The worldwide market for DDoS prevention solutions will grow by a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18.2 per cent from 2012 through 2017 and reach $870 million,” Christian Christiansen added.

IDC also expresses concern over possible growth in DDoS attacks due to expansion of cloud services and mobile networks. Measures such as firewalls, intrusion protection and others could reduce low-level threats, but attacks in large volume could be dangerous as these might not be able to differentiate between legitimate and illegitimate traffic. 

A recent joint report by IDC and Microsoft had pointed out that malware found in pirated software is likely to have a massive impact on the time and money of consumers and enterprises in the near future. The study said the computer users will spend 1.5 billion hours and $22 billion on determining, repairing and recovering from the impact of malware.