IT support professionals are walking a tightrope regarding information security, one expert has said.

On one side is risk and the other is reward, explained John W Turner, vice-president of pre-sales and sales at Symantec.

"They feel like they are always walking on this tightrope, which is how much can they operationalise, because they are [reducing costs] or trying to be more efficient, but also, while looking at that, how do they make sure they are addressing the risk of their business and making sure they are addressing the right amount of risk in the business?" he said at the Gartner Information Security Summit.

The event took place this week with the aim of giving IT firms the information they need to combine risk management and compliance, secure business enablement and infrastructure protection.

Over 50 sessions, keynotes and case studies, topics covered included data loss prevention, compliance threats, web, mobile and wireless security and application protection.

According to a 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).