[By NBC-1TV H. J Yook]SolarWinds (NYSE: SWI), a leading provider of powerful and affordable IT management software, today released the results of a survey on IT security and compliance that emphasize the growing need for powerful and easy-to-use security products focused on the key security concerns plaguing the majority of IT professionals.

According to the survey* of over 160 IT professionals, 86 percent of IT pros that specialize in areas other than security said they are responsible for securing IT. Forty-nine percent of respondents spend 40 percent or more of their time on IT security and compliance, while only seven percent of IT pros consider security their full-time job.

The top IT security responsibilities, concerns and priorities revealed that securing today's IT infrastructure will take a concerted and coordinated effort across all IT functions.

· The top five security and compliance responsibilities are managing networks; security infrastructure -- firewalls, IDS/IPS, endpoint; servers; data exchange -- email, file transfer, websites; and (a tie) desktops and mobile devices
· The top three IT security and compliance concerns are data loss, external threats, and cloud security and privacy
· The No. 1 security priority is preventing data loss

Most significantly, nearly all respondents cited complexity of security tools as the No. 1 reason they felt their organization is not able to respond effectively to security challenges.

“SolarWinds research shows that what works for security among large enterprises does not translate to the entire market,” said Jim Hurley, President of Wellington Research. “Usability and effectiveness are critical factors no matter what size an organization.”

“Securing IT is not just the role of a security expert anymore,” said Brandon Whichard, senior director product marketing, SolarWinds. “For IT pros that don‘t spend their day thinking about security yet need the tools to tackle these challenges, SolarWinds’ suite of easy-to-use IT management products has a broad set of features and functionality built-in, making security and compliance management accessible to all.”