Lack of IT staff holding back security

A lack of qualified security staff is preventing IT managers from securing the enterprise, according to data from Forrester Research.

A survey of over 2,000 IT executives in the US, UK, Canada, France and Germany found that one of the key problems behind corporate IT security is getting qualified staff to do the job.

Almost a third of managers in the US and nearly a quarter in Europe suffer from staff shortages in this area.

"Security leaders feel that they simply don't have enough staff to carry out day-to-day tactical activities while adjusting to major business and IT shifts and changing threats," said Forrester principal analyst Khalid Kark.

Lack of budget is also a major issue, and the survey found that 29 per cent of US and 23 per cent of European companies reported a shortfall in funds for IT security.

Nearly a third of US managers also reported that too much time is spent on day-to-day activities, compared to less than one in five European bosses.

Kark suggested in Forrester's Twelve recommendations for your 2011 security strategy that companies will face an inflection point next year when the number of non-PC computing devices in the enterprise exceeds the number of traditional PCs for the first time.

The analyst recommends encouraging more mobile devices up to a point, since they are often equipped with better security than older computers, and standardising policies around device capabilities not brands.

The report also predicts a rise in cloud services, and said that sensitive corporate information can be further controlled by thin client systems.