Federal IT Security Spending Expected To Take Off

The past year brought a number of reports of lost and stolen data from federal agencies. That will spur increased spending on security training and education, as well components such as firewalls, vulnerability scanning, intrusion detection/prevention software, anti-virus software, managed security services and computer forensics, according to the report.

Mandates relating to Federal Information Security Management Act, IPv6 and the HSPD-12 secure identification cards will lead to $439 million in spending on identity and access management, including technologies for two and three-factor authentication.

"Identity management and access will be a top priority," says Alan Bechara, president of Chantilly, Va.-based PC Mall Gov. The solution provider was recently honored by Sun Microsystems for 156 percent year-over-year growth in product sales. Its Sun storage business grew 300 percent, thanks largely to related security services.

"Digitization of data will be just as important -- the need for record keeping, record management, archiving. Is that security? Of course -- bits and bytes security," Bechara said. "The threat is very real, and I don't think a politician in his right mind will question spending. The environment is still ripe."