IT security experts, industry leaders, independent analysts, and end users will gather for the prestigious IDC IT Security Roadshow 2009, which will launch in Istanbul on February 17, 2009, before moving on to 23 key cities throughout the region of Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (CEMA). Running under the theme “Balancing Reality and Perception in a New Economic Era,” the roadshow provides a platform for the exchange of ideas, a sharing of experience and best practices, and the discussion of latest trends and developments in IT security. The event in Romania will take place on 26th of February 2009, at Bucharest Marriott Grand Hotel, with the support of our partners: Microsoft, Fortinet, APC, IBM and media partners.

Perceptions of IT security have evolved significantly over the years, from single-product, perimeter-based security to an integrated approach of security processes necessary to plan, assess, build, and manage secure network infrastructures and comprehensive security programs. Companies are looking to integrate security into the broader IT infrastructure by assessing their security architectures, implementing the right policies, securing all layers of technology, and cutting operational costs by outsourcing their security infrastructure management.

“The challenges that previously drove impressive growth of IT security-related technologies will not go away with the economic slowdown,” says Tomasz Sloniewski, Research Manager, IDC CEMA. “CSOs and CIOs need to be aware of such and be able to maintain high security levels, often within the same or diminished budget. In addition to allowing companies to pass regulatory compliance tests, proper security levels also strengthen business by preventing critical data loss.”

In 2007, total spending on IT security software in CEE reached $344 million. IDC expects the software security market in CEE to expand at a compound annual growth rate of 17.8% over the five-year forecast period ending 2012.

IDC’s IT Security Roadshow will embrace this era of expansion and drive discussions around the direction, changing priorities, new capabilities, and upcoming technologies that are going to shape IT security in the coming years. It will feature addresses from some of the region’s most respected IT security professionals, covering a range of topics such as the evolution of endpoint security, corporate data loss and its threat to knowledge-based businesses, the danger of Crime 2.0 and other emerging threats, compliance and its implications for IT security, messaging security in the era of Web 2.0, and the convergence of security, systems, storage, and network management.

Expert speakers featured at the conference will be, among others: John Austen, former Head of the Computer Crime Unit, New Scotland Yard; and Marco Gercke, Secretary of the Criminal Law Department of the German Society for Law and Informatics, who works as an expert for the Council of Europe.