Small and medium businesses (SMBs) in India are well on way to spend over US$161 million on beefing up their IT security solutions this year, according to the latest study by New York-based Access Markets International Partners. 

The study predicts that although the spending on anti-virus solutions still dominates the SMB security expenditures, secure content management solutions will account for a larger chunk.

"Indian SMBs are interested in reducing the number of different security products and brands they use. This has led to the popularity of integrated security suites which bundle multiple products such as anti-virus, anti-spam, email protection, firewall, and others in one packaged offering," noted Neha Jalan, Kolkata-based analyst, AMI Partners.

According to AMI Partners' latest survey, almost 50% of India's medium businesses and 36% of small businesses have experienced malware attacks and hard drive failures over the past 12 months, emphasising the need for better security protection.

"Electronic attacks are considered to be the single largest threat to data security. Protection from viruses, worms and hackers remains the primary reason behind SMB investments in IT security," said Jalan.

The Indian SMBs also face regulatory compliance issues, influencing their IT expenses. A recent AMI survey reveals that over half of the country's MBs listed regulatory compliance for driving IT security deployment, while SBs attributed their investments to regulatory pressures. Moreover, Indian MBs are increasingly competing and partnering with large businesses, influencing their IT infrastructure.

According to Jalan, "As businesses progress towards deploying firewalls, VPNs and IDS, managed security services will offer the twin benefits of convenience and cost effectiveness."