Corporations increasing security spending only slightly

Jul 15, 2003 12:00 PM

Major U.S. corporations have raised security spending only slightly since the Sept. 11 attacks -- raising questions about their vulnerability to terrorists, a study shows.

The study, conducted by the Conference Board, a private economic analysis firm, showed a middle-of-the-range increase in security spending of just 4 percent. The report, Corporate Security Management, was based on a survey of more than 330 security officials at large companies.

Security spending was highest in six critical industries: transport, energy, financial services, media and telecommunications, information technology and health care. Seven percent of the companies who participated in the survey had boosted spending on security by more than 50 percent.

Daniel Kropp, president of ASIS International, says a 4 percent median increase "seems small in light of our concerns about terror." He insists that spending levels must be judged by the degree of risk faced by companies, and that "throwing money at a problem is not going to solve it."

Only 26 percent of corporate security directors, 19 percent of corporate risk managers and 14 percent of information technology security chiefs strongly agreed that they had enough money to provide proper security for their firms.

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