Businesses, which overlook security when building IT systems, will see downtime triple over the next four years, according to research.

The growth in internet based business activities, such as web services and wireless connectivity, will lead to security vulnerabilities bringing more businesses to a halt in coming years, says analyst firm Gartner.

It predicts that overall business downtime resulting from security glitches will grow from five percent of the current total to 15 per cent by 2008.

The analyst firm also recommends that IT managers should put more pressure on technology suppliers to build secure software, while implementing systems which meet security standards.

'Increasing internet activity, along with the use of web services, wireless connections and other new technologies, will lead to more vulnerable configurations,' said John Pescatore, vice president and research fellow at Gartner.

'These vulnerabilities will cause increased downtime for organisations that don?t push security concerns into their processes for software development and procurement.'

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