UK businesses fail to protect themselves against IT security breaches, including staff abuse, misuse or direct theft, it has emerged.

Research carried out by distributor Bell Micro indicates 47 per cent of those quizzed believe their companies have yet to implement real time systems that would inform IT departments if security levels were breached.

Some 74 per cent of IT workers try to protect against the danger of rogue connections, such as customer or contractor laptops, yet 43 per cent fail to enforce a policy of encrypting data on portable devices, like personal laptops, PDAs and removable media, studies found.

Moreover, 62 per cent indicated that IT departments would be unable to detect if an employee copied data off a server onto a PC, laptop, USB stick or a disk.

Steve Browell, general manager of the security division at Bell Micro, said: "What these findings show is that there is still a paramount need to increase attention to data management and protection in an organisation."

Earlier this week, analyst Kable claimed government websites designed to support Britons' key life events are delivering an inadequate service.


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