Firms should be careful when requesting or sending data via email as it could pose an IT security threat, one expert believes.

Writing for Theregister.co.uk John Leyden said: "Sending anything by unencrypted email is the internet equivalent of writing confidential details on the back of a post card that anyone might be able to see."

He said that firms needed to be aware of how easily data contained in emails could be intercepted and then used for fraudulent purposes.

Mr Leyden's comments came after a customer reported that credit agency Equifax had asked him to send it a photocopy of his debit card via email, a move Mr Leyden described as "surprising".

The home office estimates that identity fraud costs the UK economy around £1.7 billion a year.

New legislation introduced in 2006 makes it illegal to make a false representation with intent to make a gain or cause loss or risk of loss to another person.

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'.