Despite a troubled economy, both large and small enterprises are poised to spend a higher percentage of their IT budgets on security in 2009, a major research firm said today.

According to new reports on IT security trends in large enterprises and small and midsize businesses (SMBs) released today by Forrester Research, the pressure to cut back on IT spending is not slowing the trend toward increased security spending.

"Security is getting a larger slice of the IT budget pie," says Forrester analyst Jonathan Penn in the enterprise study. "Firms are devoting 11.7 percent of their company's IT operating budget to IT security in 2008 -- contrasted with 7.2 percent in 2007 -- and plan to continue nudging up IT security budgets in 2009 to 12.6 percent of the IT operating budget." Security will also account for a higher percentage of budget allocations for new initiatives this year, going from