CompTIA: Security spending to soar

According to the US-focused survey of 1,070 organisations, respondents spent 20 per cent of their total technology budgets in 2006 on security-related expenses, up from 15 per cent in 2005 and 12 per cent in 2004.

The survey also revealed that nearly half of IT professionals intend to increase spending on security-related technologies, and a third want to increase spending on security training.

The most common product purchases are anti-virus software, firewalls and proxy servers, according to CompTIA.

The CompTIA survey reinforces the findings of a similar report issued earlier this year. According to a study by consultancy TheInfoPro Inc., more than 70 per cent of Fortune 1,000 companies said they plan to increase their security budgets, mostly to meet regulatory and audit requirements.

Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standards were the primary compliance driver for increased security spending, according to TheInfoPro's survey.

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