Businesses in Asia are spending more on Internet security to shield themselves against viruses, external hacking and data corruption, an industry monitor said.

Spending on Internet security is expected to increase to between 9-17 per cent of total information technology (IT) expenditure in the next 12 months from the current 8-14 per cent, International Data Corp (IDC) said.

Enterprises in South Korea, India and the greater China region - the mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong - are expected to see the biggest rise in online security spending.

Service companies are likely to spend the most, followed by retail and wholesale, governments and the education sector, IDC said in a statement summarising the results of a survey.

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