THE number of malware threats processed by F-Secure's labs has grown10 times from 15,000 per day to 150,000 per day over the past year, according to Kimmo Alkio, its president and chief executive officer whilst opening of its F-Secure Tower in Kuala Lumpur and whilst unveiling its new logo.

Despite the current soft global economic climate. the world market for security software is projected to grow at a 9.8% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) between 2007 and 2012, whilst the overall software market is expected to grow at 5% CAGR over the same period.

“Worldwide Internet penetration is only 24% to date, so there's still huge room to grow, especially in Asia, whilst the volume of digital content is expected to grow tenfold between 2006 and 2011,” said Alkio.

“And judging from the volume of digital camera sales, songs downloaded, users of social networking sites such as Facebook and the explosion in the number of Skype users, we are at a very early stage in the growth of a fast-changing industry,” he added.

All of this has led to growing concerns amongst users over the protection and security of their precious content. In an F-Secure survey of  Internet and mobile phone users, 85% said they regarded their photos and videos as important and in line with its brand promise, “Protecting the irreplaceable,” F-Secure endeavours to help them protect their content and social media.

Founded in 1988 in Finland, the company is a leading supplier of security-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions provided by over 200 operator partners worldwide.

Its suite of products includes Internet security, mobile security, anti-virus, anti-spam, server security, network security, e-mail security, on-line backup and other security products and solutions for homes, businesses and mobile phones.

“Through our acquisition of French on-line storage company Steek, we're able to provide SaaS services through operators,” said Alkio.

“The trend today is for operators to provide only storage and backup services for digital content coupled with their security on any device with an Internet Protocol (IP) connection and F-Secure can work with operators to provide these services, either by enabling operators to host it themselves or for us to host the service for them,” he added.

Providers of this service include Virgin Mobile, Singtel and SFR in France.

In 2005, F-Secure began scouting the region for a place to locate its Asia-Pacific headquarters and between February and March, 2006 set up a two-man office in a room in the MiCasa Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, whilst it recruited staff.

“In July that year, we moved into our office in Plaza Sentral which grew to four offices on three floors, so we needed more space, so we moved into this 11-floor tower in Bangsar South with 54,000 sq metres total floor space and 450 work places,” said Ingvar Froiland, F-Secure director and general manager for Asia-Pacific operations.

The tower hosts its Security Response Lab, its first outside Helsinki, Finland, as well as its technical support, software development for Windows and mobile platforms, technology research and marketing operations serving the Asia-Pacific, including Australia, Hong Kong, Australia and Japan.

Whilst F-Secure itself has MSC Malaysia status, its new premises currently is not an MSC Malaysia designated premises, though Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) chief executive officer Dato' Badlisham Ghazali who officiated at the opening, said that MDeC would look into it.

Altogether, 800 professionals work for F-Secure in 18 countries.