IT security is still a growing priority for IT managers, with more than four-fifths expecting their spending to increase over the next 12 months, according to research from analyst IDC.

Some 83 per cent of organisations surveyed, with an average annual IT expenditure of £15.4m, expect their security spend to grow in the next year. By comparison, only 56 per cent expect their overall IT budget to increase.

Security accounts for six per cent of IT budgets, but this is forecast by IDC to grow to 11 per cent in 12 months.

The western European security software market grew by 19.1 per cent in 2006, and will continue to grow from 2006 to 2011 by 11.4 per cent.

‘Growth is still important in this area because the need for security grows with the need for IT,’ said Eric Domage, IDC’s western European security software research manager.

‘Regulation compliance, IT weakness, complexity, and attacker agility are the main drivers of investment.’