New Delhi, Aug 13 - The growth of the information technology (IT) security market in Asia Pacific dipped to 28.3 percent in 2008 from 36 percent a year before, a leading global IT industry researcher said in a report released Thursday.

'This growth is remarkable considering in the fourth quarter of 2008, global economies began to feel the impact of the credit crunch and the global economic downturn,' said IT sector tracker Gartner.

'Double digit growth in a challenging economic climate confirms that security remains a key priority for Asia Pacific chief information officers and IT security leaders,' said Matthew Cheung, senior research analyst at Gartner in the report.

According to Gartner, data security and privacy, along with the need to protect IT infrastructure from the ever-increasing rise in sophisticated and targeted attacks in Asia Pacific, were among the key drivers fuelling the growth of spending on IT security software.

The consumer security and enterprise end-point protection remained the two largest sub-segments of the Asia Pacific security market in 2008, totalling $1.08 billion, the report said.

China led the market in terms of security in 2008, followed by Australia and South Korea.

'The region is vibrant and fast-growing, which is fostered by the need for modernisation,' said Cheung.