IT security threats can come from anywhere and are growing in severity, whether it's "phishers" sending out fake e-mails in the hopes of gaining access to private information or disgruntled employees with the power to compromise sensitive data stored on computers. To offset these new threats, companies are spending as much as 5 percent of their IT budgets to pay for stronger security systems incorporating everything from smart cards to biometrics, systems to identify users by unique body features.

"Companies have always been concerned with security," said Michel Bobillier, global offering executive for security and privacy services at IBM. "What has changed is that there are so many new openings [in companies'] IT systems. You don't know who's using your IT. All these changes are changing the threats."

Šolc noted, however, that in the short term the majority of companies will continue using passwords because they can still play a vital role in strong security systems. More often than being eliminated, he said, complicated passwords will be used together with smart cards, identification cards that usually require a PIN or biometric systems that recognize features such as a fingerprint, skin or iris to create what some in the industry call "stronger authentication" systems.

At Microsoft, Šolc uses an eight-character password with numbers, letters and symbols to access company information when he is in the office. When outside of the office, working at home from his laptop computer for instance, he is required to use a password and smart card with a PIN. The PIN protects information on the card if it is lost, he said.

IBM is just as careful. Bobillier uses a smart card to enter his building in Geneva, Switzerland, and a password with a minimum of six characters, incorporating letters and numbers, to access his laptop. In the future, Bobillier said, IBM employees will be required to use a password and a smart card to access computers.

While neither company requires employees to use biometrics for computer access, Šolc said he is aware that some sensitive areas at Microsoft require a biometrics scan to get in.

So what security system does Bobillier prefer? He opted to have a finger scanner built into his laptop because he said it is more convenient to use than a password or smart card.

Both men were quick to point out that no system is foolproof. Fingerprint scanners can be beaten using fabricated prints, and the most powerful computers can crack complicated passwords.