Facing ongoing threats, U.S. blackout, enterprises keep spending in bid to better manage risks
Framingham, MA October 3, 2003 Nearly two years after the events of 9/11, ongoing threats from hackers, viruses and worms continue to make security a top priority for information technology and business professionals alike, according to a new survey from technology research firm IDC.
Similarly, August's widespread electrical blackout in the Eastern United States reinforced the need for business continuity preparedness, IDC reports in its study, "Worldwide IT Security and Business Continuity Forecast, 2002-2007."
With these issues at the top of the IT agenda, IDC is predicting that worldwide spending on security and business continuity will grow twice as fast as overall IT spending over the next several years, reaching more than $116 billion by 2007.
"Corporate spending on security and business continuity has been held back by two factors uncertainty about the severity of risk posed by security threats and ongoing budget austerity," said John Gantz, chief research officer and senior vice president at IDC. "However, any skepticism about the potential consequences of a security breach is fading fast as enterprises seek to improve their ability to manage organizational risk."
Although spending decisions have been delayed, corporate security remains the top priority of IT professionals. Forty percent of nearly 1,000 IT managers surveyed by IDC in July 2003 rated security as their highest priority.
In addition, security was the only area where the number of respondents who indicated that spending had increased was greater than those saying it had decreased over the previous six months.
This focus on improving enterprise security will cause spending on security and business continuity products to surpass $70 billion by the end of 2003, IDC believes. While much of this spending will be directed toward immediate security needs, growth will be sustained by the security demands of privacy regulations, including HIPAA and the Gramm-Leach Bliley Act (GLBA).
IDC said it expects spending on hardware, software and services to be relatively uniform throughout the forecast period.
