Security professionals escape the recession

The recession has yet to affect security professionals' salaries

Information security professionals are mostly escaping the effects of the recession, with the majority saying that their salary has increased or stayed the same over the past year, according to a new survey from security specialist recruiter ISS.

The study, which was conducted in association with security certifications organisation ISC2, found that 56 per cent of the security professionals surveyed had been given pay rises in the past 12 months, while 38 per cent said their salary stayed the same.

"Although we are in a credit crunch, it would appear that information security, auditing and risk, and business continuity are not as affected as other parts of the industry," said ISS founder Iain Sutherland. "There has been pruning, but security is being seen as an essential part of the business."

John Colley, European managing director of ISC2, explained that the results are generally in line with ISC2's own global workforce study of its members, which have now reached the 10,000 mark in EMEA.

"We expected a levelling off, but that appears not to be the case," he said. "Maybe the credit crunch has not worked its way through appraisals and HR yet."

The study also found that the best paid sectors for security professionals do not include financial services. The average salary in the finance sector was just over £58,000, compared to £60,000 for consulting and £75,000 for the petrochemicals industry.

Partly as a result of this, the highest paid region is no longer London, but the South East, reflecting the fact that many organisations in these highly paid sectors are based in the region, rather than the capital, said Sutherland.