Risks Will Top Companies' Priorities This Year, Expert Says

Given the turbulent year many organizations experienced in 2011 in terms of data security, more figure to focus on preventing suffering more damaging incidents moving forward, according to independent security researcher Kevin Wharram.

Technology risks are nothing new for organizations, the London-based Wharram said, but protecting against them will be more of a priority in 2012.

"More people having more devices means more malware and the same goes for data theft - because now you'll have noticed there's a lot of hacking going on. It's also more about data leakage," said Wharram, adding that the control of data will also be a key consideration.

That's because people are enjoying more access to information than ever before. Through mobile devices and the internet, employees connect to the enterprise network more easily in order to leverage data for their daily responsibilities.

Moving forward, however, companies will begin to focus more of their efforts on proactive security measures, according to IDC. The firm's researchers recently forecast the security services threat intelligence market to increase from $198 million in 2009 to reach $905 million in by 2014.