Investing in IT Security

Bangalore: IT executives are investing big time in security as it seems to have occupied the top slot in a list of priorities pertaining to the budget of the relevant sector. In spite of the economic slowdown, CIOs are determined to spend considerably on IT security with a view to obtain an impregnable network of security infrastructure, reports Nathan eddy of CIO Insight.

According to a survey from technology analytics firm Gartner, expenses on security are expected to rise by 8.4 percent to $60 billion by 2012. It further predicts that by the year 2016, spending on security would touch a whooping $86 billion across the world.

Lawrence Pingree, research director at Gartner, stated, "The security infrastructure market is expected to experience positive growth over the forecast period, despite risks of further economic turbulence. Results from the 2012 annual Gartner CIO survey show increased prioritization for security compared with 2011 and results from Gartner budgeting surveys published in June 2012 underline the fact that organizations globally are prioritizing on security budgets."

It has been identified that the most prominent security infrastructure that are gathering pace which are primarily used to secure enterprise and consumer IT equipment in the form of software, services and network security appliances include managed security services;  like IT outsourcing, secure Web gateway appliances and security information and event management (SIEM).

Moreover, the survey revealed that 50 percent of the respondents stuck to the same IT budget as last year whereas 45 percent were inclined to increase the same. Only a meager 5 percent were contemplating to slash their IT budget.

Gartner research director Ruggero Contu, advocating the trend that emerging economies would invariably increase their IT expenses, commented, “Although security remains fairly resilient in tough times, the prolonged financial crises seen in the U.S. and Europe have had some impact on IT security spending globally but to a lesser extent for emerging countries, such as Brazil, China and India. Our most current forecast reflects our expectation that the various markets within security infrastructure will be affected to different degrees.”

It has to be admitted that with rising security concerns, both from internal and external forces, it would not be a bad idea after all to invest in IT security as it seems the only viable solution at the moment to safeguard IT against attacks.