Though information and communications technology (ICT) security issues don't change fundamentally from country to country, the speed and extent of adoption of enterprise-wide security measures depends on country-specific triggers.

So says IBM's global offering executive for security and privacy services, Michel Bobillier, who updated South African organisations on security trends during a recent four-day IBM workshop. "For instance, South African companies moved later than their European or American colleagues to Internet-based business capability. Therefore, the focus on making that capability safe is only now becoming a hot topic here.

"We also see differences of approach in different industry sectors. In the financial services sector, for instance, King II carries more weight here than Basel II, although Basel II is getting the appropriate amount of attention.

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