A new report by research firm IDC indicates that open source software could become increasingly important in fighting against security breaches.

As firms become increasingly reliant on IT, and need the correct IT support in place, the IDC survey found that the most influential factor for rolling out open source software was better protection against security breaches.

A larger number of small and medium sized businesses in the countries surveyed (India, China, Australia and Korea) were deploying this kind of software than bigger firms, as expected.

"The results indicate that organisations perceived open source technology as providing better security compared to proprietary products," said IDC's Prianka Srinivasan.

"Though cost-efficiency remains a key decision factor, the results also suggest that organisations look forward to leverage open source technology to primarily fulfill their requirements for specific functionalities instead of widespread deployment."

Other factors contributing to the implementation of open source software include sufficient support from vendors, the availability of required functionalities, better management of tools and utilities, and recommendations made by industry peers.

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)