Survey: IT Security Spending on the Increase

Organizations will be dedicating a larger chunk of their IT budgets in 2009 to security measures, according to a survey by Web security vendor Finjan. Conducted in December 2008 among 200 IT and security professionals, the survey focused on determining the trends for allocating IT budgets in 2009 compared to 2008.

The results reveal that the total IT budgets for 2009 tend to be reduced compared to 2008. However, the IT security budget outlook was more optimistic since organizations intend to dedicate a larger part of their total IT budgets to IT security.

According to the survey, slightly more than a third of respondents expect no change in their 2009 IT budgets, while a third expect slightly smaller budgets. One third indicated that their IT security budgets for 2009 will increase, while 43% of all respondents expect their IT security budget for 2009 to remain the same. The survey also found that the upward trend in IT security budget allocation was more pronounced in the financial and governmental sectors than in others.

"While 2008 saw IT security departments facing new challenges in protecting valuable business data against an ever-increasing wave of cybercrime attacks, 2009 is adding a further economic challenge to the mix," said Yuval Ben-Itzhak, Finjan CTO.

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • white clouds in the sky overlaid with glowing network nodes, circuits, and AI symbols

    AWS, Microsoft, Google, Others Make DeepSeek-R1 AI Model Available on Their Platforms

    Leading cloud service providers are now making the open source DeepSeek-R1 reasoning model available on their platforms, including Amazon, Microsoft, and Google.

  • illustration with geometric shapes, digital circuitry, and subtle icons of an open book, graduation cap, and lightbulb

    University of Michigan Launches Agentic AI Virtual Teaching Assistant

    At the University of Michigan's Stephen M. Ross School of Business, a new Virtual Teaching Assistant pilot program is utilizing agentic AI to provide students with 24/7 access to support and self-directed learning.

  • robot waving

    Copilot Updates Aim to Make AI More Personal

    Microsoft has unveiled a range of updates to its Copilot platform, marking a new phase in its effort to deliver what it calls a "true AI companion" that adapts to individual users' needs, preferences and routines.

  • modern college building with circuit and brain motifs

    Anthropic Launches Claude for Education

    Anthropic has announced a version of its Claude AI assistant tailored for higher education institutions. Claude for Education "gives academic institutions secure, reliable AI access for their entire community," the company said, to enable colleges and universities to develop and implement AI-enabled approaches across teaching, learning, and administration.