Gordan, whose GRC title means "Governance management, Regulatory analysis and Compliance," said scrimping on IT security to save money could lead to dangerous results.

"There are consequences in cutting costs on IT security. Threats could succeed five times to 10 times more," Gordan said.

Ina recent media roundtable on "Risk Mitigation" held at the Renaissance Hotel in Makati City, IBM executives talked about the impact on security of the global economic crisis, warning that cyber traffic and cyber crimes are on an uptrend.

Gordan reported that the major risks come from emerging technologies, such as cloud computing, IT green initiatives, virtualization, and Software as a Service (SaaS), as well as from the explosion of multiple digital identities and the proliferation of mobile phones and PDAs as access points to the Internet.

Reporting on IBM's newly launched Security Technology Outlook (STO), a study on potential security challenges, Gordan identified nine important trends and technologies that are expected to shape the security environment over the next five years.