As home working becomes more widespread in the UK, IT security managers have been advised to make systems remain secure despite the use of outside computers.

Research by Dimension Data suggests that many firms have left holes in their security controls by not upgrading to take home working connections into account.

In a survey of UK businesses, 35 per cent said that the employee is responsible for keeping data secure when outside the office rather than a specialised IT team.

When it is taken into account that 54 per cent of employees do at least some work on the computer at home each month, there emerges a potentially significant risk to company data.

Calling for IT security to be upgraded and steps taken to protect sensitive data when out of the office, Alastair Broom, line of business director for security at Dimension Data, said: "[This] shows that British businesses have a big job on their hands to ensure that both their clients and themselves have sufficient IT security protection and control over their data."