IT Security and ROI
by Joe Greene

A recent increase in media coverage of security breaches, incidents of information theft and corporate scandals has raised awareness about the importance of IT security. The attention has also elevated both the profile and importance of corporate governance and accountability in Canadian organizations.

IT departments are now expected to provide evolving solutions that deliver secure technology environments for employees, partners and clients by protecting information assets Ð complex networks and a wider variety of access points Ð from more sophisticated attacks, self-replicating viruses and tactics that aim to manipulate people into disclosing crucial authentication information. While maintaining effective IT security solutions can save money, justifying the continuing investment to non-technical decision makers can be a challenge.

In most organizations, information security affects a variety of stakeholders who have varying technology needs, problems and vocabularies. So in presenting the business case for increased spending, IT security managers must be able to articulate how financial gains balance against less quantifiable benefits such as the exact impact of a security solution. They must be able to demonstrate the effectiveness of the existing and/or planned security, using numbers that show how and where it benefits the organization.

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