Middle East & Africa Open-Source Intelligence Market Developments and Forecast by 2028

The MEA open-source intelligence market is expected to grow from Euro 273.82 million in 2021 to Euro 819.80 million by 2028; it is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 17.0% from 2021 to 2028.

The UAE, Saudi Arabia, and South Africa are major economies in MEA. Burgeoning adoption of OSINT for social media analytics is expected to fuel the market growth. Over a few years, social media has gained momentum across the region. More than 80% of the population has at least one social media account. Apart from using social media account for communication, individuals are using it for earning. Social media has also become a marketing platform for both individuals and businesses. Social media networks provide several options for internet investigations because a large amount of important information is available at one location. For example, any personal information can be obtained from anywhere across the region by checking a person's Facebook profile. The information gathered from social media websites is referred to as social media intelligence (SOCMINT), which is a subbranch of open-source intelligence (OSINT). Social media platforms can have both public posts and private posts. Without the creator's consent, private information—such as materials shared with friend circles—cannot be accessed. However, with the rise in the use of social media, content and data theft have also experienced a surge over the years. Therefore, the adoption of social media intelligence is increasing across businesses to protect every data published on their social media pages. Thus, the above-mentioned factors are expected to fuel the growth of the MEA open-source intelligence market in the future.

In case of COVID-19, MEA is highly affected specially Turkey and South Africa. Saudi Arabia's economy shrank by 7% in the second quarter, indicating how hard the latest coronavirus struck both the oil and non-oil industries, and unemployment reached a new high of 15.4%. The sudden spread of the pandemic resulted to a standstill in the economy and declined the technological investments of the companies across the region, thereby leaving a negative impact on the adoption of open-source intelligence solutions. As hackers take advantage of Covid-related digital adoption, the UAE's cyber leader warns that the Middle East is facing a "cyber epidemic." Cyberattacks have increased by 250% in the UAE this year, with phishing and ransomware cases becoming more common. According to Mohamed al-Kuwaiti, the head of UAE Government Cyber Security, the UAE has been the subject of "massive attacks" since establishing diplomatic ties with Israel. Owing to the rising risk of cyberattacks the UAE has established a new National Cyber Security Council, according to Al Kuwaiti, to draught policies and legislation to boost cyber security and ensure the country is not subject to assaults that may easily damage society, government, or enterprises. Thus, the above-mentioned factors expected to contribute to the high adoption of open-source intelligence, thereby positively impacting the market growth.

With the new features and technologies, vendors can attract new customers and expand their footprints in emerging markets. This factor is likely to drive the MEA open-source intelligence market. The MEA open-source intelligence market is expected to grow at a good CAGR during the forecast period.

MEA Open-Source Intelligence Market Segmentation     

MEA Open-Source Intelligence Market – By Technique

• Text Analytics
• Video Analytics
• Social Media Analytics
• Geospatial Analytics
• Security Analytics
• Others

MEA Open-Source Intelligence Market – By End-user

• Government Intelligence Agencies
• Military and Defense Intelligence Agencies
• Cyber Security Organizations
• Law Enforcement Agencies
• Private Specialized Business
• Financial Services
• Others

MEA Open-Source Intelligence Market, by Country

• Saudi Arabia
• UAE
• South Africa 
• Rest of MEA

MEA Open-Source Intelligence Market -Companies Mentioned

• Alfresco Software, Inc.
• Digital Clues
• Google LLC 
• NetSentries Technologies FZCO
• Palantir Technologies
• RECORDED FUTURE, INC.
• Thales Group

Middle East & Africa Open-Source Intelligence Report Scope