Less Than Half of IT Professionals See Security Audit Costs Increasing in 2010

An online survey of over 250 security professionals revealed that forty-seven percent of IT security professionals believe that security audit costs will increase in 2010.

The survey, conducted by nCircle, a security and compliance solutions provider, covered a range of security topics including smartphones, healthcare, cloud computing and social media.

Key findings from the survey include:

• 45% of respondents anticipate no change in 2010 security audit costs

• 8% expect a decrease in security audit costs in 2010

• 45% experienced increased security audit costs and only 6% saw a decrease from 2008 to 2009

• 83% of respondents report they are effectively identifying security and compliance issues prior to an audit

“The increasing complexity of regulatory requirements continues to be a key cost driver for many companies’ compliance initiatives,” said Elizabeth Ireland, Vice President of Strategy for nCircle. “Unless companies have a strategy that automates the continuous monitoring required for various regulations and can report on it to suit the requirements of a specific audit, the process remains very resource intensive and costly. There is definitely an opportunity for cost reduction here for the majority of organizations.”

The survey was conducted between February 4 and March 12, 2010.

 

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