Companies expect to spend roughly 10% of their total IT budget on security in 2003, an 8% increase over 2002 levels, with employee education, business continuity and disaster recovery taking priority. Current employees still pose the biggest threat to companies’ technology infrastructures, and security executives are most concerned about electronic attacks like viruses and unauthorized access to systems—more than physical attacks or electronic attacks with physical consequences (i.e. loss of power).

Increasingly, security investments are considered strategic. Along with government and industry regulations and internal compliance audits, customer confidence is a key factor driving companies to invest in information security.

[ Read more ]