Recession fails to dent security spending

The economic downturn is unlikely to affect investment in information security, according to the 2008 Global Information Security Survey by consultancy Ernst & Young released today.

The report predicted that, while IT is traditionally one of the first functions to see budget cuts, this is not the case with information security.

Only five per cent of respondents intend to reduce annual IT security spending, while 50 per cent plan to increase investment in this area as a percentage of total expenditure.

However, to make the most of their investments in security, companies are advised to establish a clear information security strategy and an integrated risk management approach.

""The economic climate has been challenging for a number of months, so it was a pleasant surprise that security seems to be important enough," said Sheila Upton, director of technology and security risk services at Ernst & Young.

"We'd certainly caution people in times of economic uncertainty that there is usually an increase in crime – so it's not the time to be cutting security."

The survey also revealed that international industry standards like ISO 17799 are gaining greater acceptance, but that a worrying third of firms do not perform any security assessment of the third parties with which they share information.

Ernst & Young found that brand and reputation protection returned to the top of the priority list for chief security officers, 85 per cent of whom said that damage to brand is the most significant consequence of a data breach.

See also:

IT spending to slow next year

Gartner predicts growth of just 2.3 per cent in 2009  14 Oct 2008

MPs slam MoD loss of 1.7 million records

And government warns that more losses could yet be uncovered  14 Oct 2008

IT staff working harder as job fears loom

Lack of job security is causing people to worker harder and longer  13 Oct 2008

Job losses on the way for IT security staff

Economic problems likely to lead to project delays, warn experts  08 Oct 2008

UK banking fraud soars in 2008

Apacs reports overall losses of £300m in the first six months  01 Oct 2008

Like this story? Spread the news by clicking below:

 del.icio.us     Digg this     reddit!