UK firms get the IT security message

UK spending on IT security is currently £1.8bn a year

Virtually every UK company has security measures in place to protect business data communications, and spending has reached "massive" levels, according to new research.

A report from Point Topic found that barely one per cent of businesses with data access have no specific security measures, corresponding to only 37,000 workplaces in the UK.

Average monthly expenditure ranges from £15 to £134 per month at the smallest sites, but leaps to £960 and £2,500 per month at the biggest sites.

The figures amount to total expenditure of £1.8bn per annum, according to the first business survey of Point Topic's BroadBand User Service.

The research shows that sites with up to 10 staff spend an average of £11.30 per month per employee on security, while larger sites with over 50 staff spend £15.80.

Sites in the middle, with 11 to 50 staff, get away with only £4.50 per month per employee.

"An explanation could be that they get economies of scale with the cost of security packages without having the need for consulting expertise and bespoke solutions required for the bigger sites," said Tim Johnson, chief executive at Point Topic.

Firewalls and antivirus systems show a high take-up at all sizes of premises, while disaster recovery, documented procedures and regulatory compliance monitoring are seen much more frequently at larger sites.

The leading security suppliers quoted in the survey were Symantec, McAfee, Sophos, AVG, Microsoft and Trend Micro.

Symantec and McAfee dominate at the smaller sites, although McAfee held its market share better at the larger ones.

Sophos and Trend Micro are confined to the larger sites, but with a significant share. AVG and Microsoft are represented across the range of sites.