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The highest concern of business and technology executives this year is securing personally identifiable information (PII), according to a recent report by a non-profit IT organisation.

A survey by Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA), which represents over 86,000 IT governance professionals around the world, found that PII and the implementation of transaction monitoring were the top issues that worried businesses over the next 12-18 months.

The survey, which interviewed 3,100 professionals over 95 countries, assessed the top seven business issues that were affected by technology.

Other issues in the list of concerns of companies included enterprise-based management, security organisation, disaster recovery and IT value management.

In a statement, Greg Grocholski, chairman of ISACA's Assurance Committee, said: "The cost of losing or compromising the integrity of PII is also leading to a renewed focus on information security."

Last week, technology resource vnunet.com noted that 83 per cent of companies in a survey by London's Storage Expo found difficulty in implementing the correct disaster recovery strategy.