Research

The Global State of Information Security 2008

Our annual survey finds respondents throwing technology at the problem. Which is a beginning, but only a beginning.

By Kim Nash

Page 6

Security technology and procedures will correspond to the risk and tier level in which a given piece of data falls, as defined by the data owner. Tier 1 might mandate twice-a-day backups and two-factor user authentication, he says. "I can expend my resources more appropriately to our data's value and therefore save the company money," he says. "Stop spending $10 to protect $5 worth of data." Music to an airline CEO's ears, no doubt.

Which Brings Us Back to Money

With security budgets averaging $1.7 million, an optimistic 44 percent of those surveyed said their information security spending would increase this year, while 4 percent expected a decrease. Where will the money go? We see glimmers of hope. Top priorities in the coming year include hiring information security consultants and hiring a chief information security officer. Respondents also plan to develop security procedures for handheld devices and create an identity management strategy. They expect to invest in technologies, including biometrics, to tighten access to sensitive data, as well as in data-leakage prevention and security event correlation tools to start analyzing what works and what doesn't on which kinds of security problems.

These steps, Lobel says, will get companies closer to a comprehensive security strategy. Already, he notes, 40 percent of organizations use security as a marketing point, usually soliciting business on the grounds that they protect customer data better than their rivals. "But it's only a competitive advantage if it works, if it's good security."

Read more about data protection in CSOonline's Data Protection section.

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