Are airlines' security budgets safe?

While airlines may be feeling the pinch, cost-cutting doesn't seem to have hit security budgets.

According to research by the airline IT industry body Sita, only 10 per cent of airlines saw their security budgets cut during 2008.

Meanwhile, 34 per cent of airlines expect to see their security budgets increase over the coming year. Of those who expected a boost in security budget, most predicted a rise of between one and five per cent.

The overall picture "should be seen as a positive trend for security budgets, especially in light of the operational challenges experienced in the airline industry as a whole. With the pressure of highly competitive markets, fluctuating fuel costs and the wider global downturn, IT security budgets appear somewhat insulated from significant cuts," the report said. For many airlines, however, security budgets will be static this year.

"In times of hardship, there seems to be an encouraging respect for maintaining security spending. However, there is still the need for businesses to innovate against a dynamic range of network threats, which may present challenges for the 45 per cent of businesses that experienced no budget growth over 2008," the report added.

The Sita research, which questioned 180 airlines, found that on average each experienced 28 incidents of network slowdown resulting from malware.

"This suggests that, although improvements abound, there is still work to do in reinforcing defences against the ongoing battle of security threats and malware," the report concluded.