SME security budgets on the up next year

The global study found that nearly 70 per cent of IT professionals said their company planned to boost its security budget in 2008 to tackle unauthorised access to company networks and data.

According to the figures, a quarter of respondents said that their organisation will spend between seven and ten per cent of their total 2007 IT budget on security until the end of the year, while 13 per cent of those polled said they would spend more than 15 per cent.

Nearly two thirds of IT professionals revealed that they plan to invest in protection against web application attacks, vulnerabilities and data leakage.

“The biggest challenge our customers and partners are facing over the next five years is the ability to find vulnerabilities in their systems and prevent unauthorised network access," said Arne Klein, vice president of marketing at Astaro, in a statement.

"Overall, the rise in IT spending on security will continue unabated, with managed security services gaining ground in almost every application," he added.

More than 2,800 IT professionals took part in the survey.