Fears prompted by the four viruses discovered over the last two weeks have forced companies to reconsider the importance of security spending.

Risk assessments now routinely include IT security in reports and the insurance industry has started to insist on rigorous IT security if they are not to increase premiums.

'In security, in general, people fix things that break but not things that don't,' said Ian Kilpatrick, chairman of Wick Hill.

'The only plus side of the SoBig virus is that it has forced people who've been sitting on their hands to check where their hands are. Companies are now focussing on security spending that works.'

According to a report out last week from analysts Datamonitor, security spending looks set to rise for at least the next three years and will consistently outperform other areas of the IT industry.

The report found enterprise security products generated revenues of $7.1bn in 2002 and global enterprise investment in security products is predicted to rise to $13.5bn in 2006.

'The danger of all this press over SoBig is that people take their eyes off the biggest picture,' said Graham Titterington, senior analyst at Ovum.

'The real message from the SoBig virus is that before lashing out with spending you need to get the IT staff the resources to actually do their jobs. Companies may spend a little more but very few don't have anti-virus software already, so won't be spending on that.'

The report found that intrusion protection, vulnerability assessment solutions and security management tools are tipped to be key revenue generators in the next three years.