Analysts at Gartner are warning that deliberate data intrusions aimed at securing a financial gain will cost businesses 20 percent more each year through 2009 than they do now. Identity theft from legitimate users remains the most significant security threat. Gartner believes that the most effective interventions will come from recognizing and blocking so-called phishing attempts that capture and forward legitimate access credentials to a third party.

According to Gartner, businesses must become more adept at repelling mass attacks to avoid wasting security resources and to prepare for future attacks. Currently, IT budgets devote an average of 5 percent to security, attack prevention and avoidance, and an average of 7 percent to disaster recovery. Nine out of ten targeted attacks could be prevented if the attack target employed more robust intrusion prevention measures.