With Improving Economy, Corporate IT Security Spending Expected to Decline

Changing market the focus of DC-area Gartner Inc. conference beginning today

By Bob Keefe | June 21, 2010

WASHINGTON - Despite a big boost in government spending on cyber security recently, many companies are decreasing their spending on IT security slightly, according to technology research firm Garter Inc.

Why?

Blame it - like so much else - on the economy. The improving economy, that is.

"In 2009, in the face of a significant IT spending downturn, security spending grew slightly as a percentage of the IT budget, while many other IT spending areas were gutted," explained Vic Wheatman, research director at Gartner.

"With the economic situation projected to improve in 2010, enterprises are ramping up investments in other spending areas faster than they are for IT security," he said.

The changing dynamics of IT security are at the focus of a three-day Gartner conference at the
Gaylord National Resort in National Harbor, Md. beginning today (Monday). See http://bit.ly/cXjlNm for more details. Keynote speakers include former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft and Michael Shermer, executive director (if you can believe it) of the Skeptics Society and publisher of Skeptic magazine.

According to Gartner, companies are expected to reduce the share of IT spending on cyber security to about 5 percent of their total IT spending on cyber security this year, down from about 6 percent in 2009.

That doesn't automatically mean companies will be any less secure, however, according to Wheatman. That's because many companies have already established robust computer security systems. Now they'll simply be forced to use them more efficiently.

According to Wheatman, most corporations are continuing to look for comprehensive security "platforms" such as endpoint security, next-generation firewall, Web security gateways, e-mail security gateways and multifunction firewalls for branch offices, where they make sense.

With fewer dollars available, most companies are focusing security spending on areas tightly tied to new business initiatives, such as complex identity and access management (IAM) and data loss prevention (DLP) projects.

IAM is the top security priority for 20 percent of organizations surveyed a recent survey of chief information officers by Gartner, making it the clear leader among the most-important projects.

More than 40 percent of organizations surveyed named intrusion prevention systems, patch management, DLP, antivirus and identity management among the top five security priorities for 2010.



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