Resellers urged to help kickstart encryption adoption

Despite the growing spectre of data breaches, UK end users are holding off adopting encryption solutions due to ease-of-management and deployment concerns.

That is the finding of security software vendor Check Point, which recently quizzed 125 UK organisations on their IT security spending habits. Some 49 per cent said they had deployed data encryption - up just one per cent on its previous poll a year earlier.

In an indication of the security sector’s enduring strength, more than two-thirds (68 per cent) of respondents said that the current economic climate would not affect their overall IT security spending. However, 27 per cent said they expected it to decrease, while just 5 per cent expected it to increase.

Nick Lowe, managing director northern Europe at Check Point, argued resellers could do more to hand-hold potential customers who are scared to embark on large encryption roll outs.

“Many firms are still waiting to deploy in the encryption space so it is a massive opportunity for the channel,” he told CRN.

“The customer will start testing and then run into the buffers because it does not know how to roll it out.”

Lowe also argued that specialist boutique resellers are better placed to win encryption deals than traditional network security resellers.

“The majority of encryption technology is being deployed by smaller boutiques,” he said. "They understand the language around the technology and are better equipped to convince end users (to make the investment).”

Despite the stalled uptake of data encryption, 35 per cent of respondents named it as a security spending priority for 2009. Only virtual private networks and remote access got a higher proportion of votes (43 per cent). Virtualisation security (27 per cent), intrusion prevention (28 per cent) and perimeter security (25 per cent) were also seen as priorities.