Web services threaten perimeter security

Stuart Okin, an associate partner at Accenture and former Microsoft head of security, told delegates that applications would not reside within the perimeter but be outside of the business.

"We're moving forward to a web services-centric world and this means that critical business applications will not be in the perimeter of the business," he said.

He said applications will be split up and used across the internet in much the same way as they are used across internal networks today. He said applications running as web services will require robust security standards.

He told delegates that a survey to be published later in the year will show that around 25 percent of IT budgets will be spent on compliance measures such as SOX. He urged delegates to develop a data governance culture within companies which embraces security awareness, education and systems management.

Okin said the survey found the most pressing matter on the minds of CIOs was server consolidation with IT security only reaching fifth place.

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