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Despite economic uncertainties sometimes impeding the broader market, increases in the number and complexity of threats faced by information technology is expected to drive IT security budgets higher in the coming year, according to a recent study conducted by 451 Research.
"We found that 45 percent of the respondents are expecting a budget increase for 2013, mostly in the 5 to 10 percent range," said research director Daniel Kennedy. "This is better than what we saw last year. Companies realize they need to respond to the problems that are out there."
Only 8 percent of the individuals anticipated budget reductions.
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The study anticipates continued market strength, especially in the areas of mobile device management, endpoint security, network data loss prevention (DLP), application-aware firewalls and mobile device management, which includes not only asset tracking but also security aspects such as authentication and data wiping.
Eight percent of the respondents anticipated expenditures on application-aware firewalls over the next six months, and 14 percent had longer-term plans already on their radar screens. Similarly, 10 percent of the companies anticipated DLP rollouts in the near-term.
"DLP is starting to become ubiquitous," observed Kennedy. "It's becoming the next step in endpoint protection. The requirement for data breach notifications when it does occur is also giving DLP a push. But, mobile device management is probably the most dramatic gainer, with something like 20 percent of the respondents implementing some sort of related project within the next six months. It's the top answer to the bring-your-own-device phenomenon. But issues, such as ease-of-use, still remain."
