More than 70 percent of IT security professionals say they have been forced to cut budgets during the past six months. Half of respondents said they have made at least one layoff in the security department. Data runs counter to several other studies published earlier this year that said security spending would hold steady or increase in 2009. 55 percent of respondents do not expect any further security budget cuts for the remainder of the year, according to the (ISC)2 report. Some 40 percent of the respondents have reduced staff since January, the report states.”]