Security software and services budgets to increase in 2010

Overall IT budgets may have been put on a diet in the current economic climate, but security software and services spending is tipped to outpace other IT areas in 2010, according to a new survey by Gartner.

Gartner’s predictions are based on a survey of more than 1000 IT professionals with budget responsibility worldwide, including 323 in six Asia Pacific countries including Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, China, India and Hong Kong.

“Security decision makers should work to allocate limited budgets based on enterprise-specific security needs and risk assessments,” said principal research analyst at Gartner, Adam Hils.

Gartner has identified security information and event management, e-mail security, URL filtering and user provisioning as specific areas for security software spending in 2010.

But the survey also showed security services spending will also outpace spending in other services areas, with budgets expected to grow 2.74 per cent in 2010.

Key drivers for the increase include a growing movement towards managed security services, cloud-based email and web security solutions, and third-party compliance-related consulting and vulnerability audits and scans.

It may be impossible to capture all security-related spending because of organisationally diffused security budgets, according to principal research analyst at Gartner, Ruggero Contu.

“Businesses should also recognise that new threats or vulnerabilities may require security spending that exceeds the amounts allocated, and should consider setting aside up to 15 per cent of the IT security budget to address the potential risks and impact of such unforeseen issues.”

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