Total sales of security software in the Asia-Pacific region excluding Japan is projected to increase to $1.7 billion by 2010 from $805 million last year, an IDC report, quoted by AFP, said.
The AFP report said spending on security software, which includes programs to protect against viruses and spam mails, will be driven by some of the region's fast growing economies including India and China over the next five years, according to IDC.
'Demand for protection against viruses, spyware, spam and other malicious code underpinned the growth in this market,' the research firm said.
IDC projects the market will grow more than 15 % on a compound annual growth rate basis from now till 2010, the report said.