Businesses dealing with personal customer information ought to seek third party advice in relation to security.

Tony Neate, the managing director of Get Safe Online, said that firms should seek technology outsourcing so as to avoid "loss of credibility, confidence and … issues relating to data protection".

Research published by Get Safe Online in June this year found that 44 per cent of small businesses in the UK have been the victim of cyber crimes such as data theft.

As well as this, many firms had fallen victim to computer viruses, phishing, and other forms of digital skulduggery.

Security is "absolutely paramount", Mr Neate said.

"When you've gone on to that sort of area and you're taking money over the internet and you have an internet web presence - that's when you maybe need to go that little step further and you to get third party consultancy advice in relation to security," he said.

In a recent survey of SMEs for Connect, the two most important benefits of outsourcing were 'guaranteed response times' and 'allowing in-house IT staff to concentrate on more strategic issues'