IT security budgets set by U.S. federal agencies

A new IDC Government Insights report examines IT security budgets set by each U.S. federal agency and reveals how much each organization actually spends on security-focused products and services.

Federal agencies have budgeted an average of 8% of their total FY12 IT budgets on security-related solutions, significantly lagging behind most industries.

A 2007 IDC survey found that organizations, across all industries, spent an average of 19% of their total IT budgets on security solutions. While that number may have spiked in the last few years, 19% is realistic for most organizations.

While some mission-critical government networks are state of the art when it comes to IT security, the federal government as a whole lags behind most other industries when it comes to IT security investments.

Government agencies need a clear idea of how much of their IT budget should be spent on security-related IT solutions, especially compared with how much other government organizations spend on security.

This report provides an excellent benchmark when evaluating whether an organization is doing what needs to be done to keep systems and information safe.

“For agencies, this report provides a baseline for security spending, and a way to compare themselves against other agencies,” says Shawn McCarthy, research director for IDC Government Insights. “For vendors, it is a chance to measure the size of the IT security market in the federal government.”

The complete report is available here.