Security Spending Survey Is Mixed Bag

Nemertes Research has released a report highlighting the differences in security spending among companies, regardless of industry or size. Called "Securing the Enterprise," the report focuses on regulatory compliance. Calculating security spending per employee, Nemertes found that the top spenders (23 percent of participants) spent more than $1,000 per year per employee. But 15 percent were allocating less than $50 per employee per year.

The report states that a company with many employees may not need to spend as much per employee as a high-revenue company with only a few workers. But the potential spending differences could mean either the two companies are at opposite ends of a spending curve, or they have a fundamentally different security culture.

"We cannot help but deduce that...what passes for 'due diligence' in one company is 'gross negligence' in another," Nemertes concludes.