Security Spending Up, CompTIA Says

Published: October 17, 2007

by Alex Woodie

IT spending on security was way up last year, increasing by nearly 33 percent from 2005 to account for one-fifth of IT budgets, according to the Computing Technology Industry Association.

A survey of 1,070 organizations commissioned by CompTIA found that on average, organizations spent 20 percent of their total technology budget in 2006 on security-related expenses, the Chicago-based group says. That compares to 15 percent of budgets in 2005, and 12 percent in 2004.

Much of that money--42 cents of every dollar--went to product purchases, CompTIA said, while 17 percent went to security-related processes, 15 percent to training, 12 percent to assessments, and 9 percent for certification. Among the products, antivirus software, firewalls, and proxy servers continue to be the most frequently purchased, while other products, such as intrusion detection systems, physical access control, and multifactor authentication, are increasing in usage.