A growing number of employees are taking unnecessary IT risks, new research has revealed.

According to a study conducted by Dr Monica Whitty of Queen's University Belfast, employees across several regions are regularly taking security risks, while laptop users were found to take more risks than desktop users.

The study unveiled a distinct blame culture amongst employees, despite the fact that many of them do not take adequate measure to protect important data, while it also suggests employers could do more to help the situation.

"Almost two thirds of our sample would blame their employer if confidential data was stolen from their work computers," said Dr Whitty.

"Given that security breaches and careless mistakes can lead to the loss or theft of confidential information, employers should be cautious when it comes to protecting confidential data," she added.

Dr Whitty's researchers surveyed 1,000 mobile and desktop employees across five countries – Australia, the Netherlands, Singapore, Britain and the US - and found lax security measures to be prominent among workers in each nation.

Meanwhile, a survey of more than 200 CTOs by ConSentry has revealed that internal protection with the Local Area Network is currently the biggest cause for concern among UK companies.