Security 500 2009 Findings Examined

Security Magazine has released its 2009 annual Security 500 findings covering general trends, vertical overview and largest security end users.

Caution is advised on using these claims and figures. Many of them are questionable. For instance, the security figures section claims that higher education spends 12x greater percentage of budget on security than retailers. 

The Security 500 reports are broken down into the following sections:

• Top 10 general trends: The most common theme in the 10 trends is that declining budgets are driving greater convergence. These are high level and tend to be based on anecdotes.  For instance, The second rated trend is "Workplace Murders, Suicides and Violence are Soaring." However, evidence cited is limited and tends to contradict the claim.
• 16 Sectors examined: Probably the most useful of the sections, this provides a short analysis of various verticals including casinos, education, banking, transport, retail, etc.
• Rankings of Security End Users: A List of 500 companies, segmented by vertical, these ranking cite the name and position of the head of security for each company. The rankings are fairly similar to the 2008 version.