The changing nature of the threats facing business IT security will see worldwide spending in the sector top £10 billion by 2010, a new report has found.

Research by market analyst firm Datamonitor predicts that the global business spend on IT security will reach £10.2 billion in three years time, a rise of nearly a third from the £7 billion the firm expects to be spent this year.

The changing face of online criminal activity, however, will see business investment vary greatly between different security sectors, with some solutions like firewalls and virtual private networks - well-known both to businesses and to criminals - seeing less growth than newer ideas.

"There is a big rise in the importance of data protection, data-loss prevention and encryption," Alaa Owaineh, associate analyst at Datamonitor, told computerweekly.com.

"Another area that is growing quickly, although it is debatable if one should include it with IT security or management, is the area of IT auditing and risk management."

The report also found that many firms will increasingly be looking to use a number of different security solutions providers in order to best cover all the needs of their IT security.

According to recent survey by Connect, the two biggest IT headaches for businesses were 'everyday hassles with IT' (37 per cent) and 'security concerns' (32 per cent)