Many businesses are failing to implement IT encryption protocols, even after they have experienced a security breach.

Research carried out by Scott & Scott LLP and the Ponemon Institute found that 85 per cent of businesses said they have experienced an IT security breech in the last two years.

Despite this, nearly half (46 per cent) of the companies questioned said that they still had not put encryption systems in place to protect their data.

"Encryption is the single most effective way to avoid the negative business impact of data breaches," explained Robert Scott, managing partner at Scott & Scott.

"The most significant finding to me is that, despite having experienced a data breach, 46 per cent of respondents failed to implement encryption technology on portable devices such as laptops and PDAs."

Elsewhere in the report, missing devices were cited by 42 per cent of businesses as the cause of their security breech. Employee negligence (16 per cent) and IT mishaps (seven per cent) were also listed as reasons for the problems.

A recent study by KACE suggested that 73 per cent of IT professionals think that a security breech at their work could cost them their job.