Cyber-criminals are increasingly testing viruses to see how effective they will be before releasing them on to the internet, it has been claimed.

A study conducted by PandaLabs found that IT security is increasingly being put at risk as hackers look to test their creations against a variety of anti-virus software to make sure they can bypass such systems.

Panda Lab's Luis Corrons said: "Even if their creations were detected by one or two companies, they could still launch them, as they would affect all users with different security technologies."

However, he added that hackers are still unable to check if viruses would be detected by proactive IT security so firms are "still one step ahead" of those creating malware.

Last week, Tony Neate, managing director of Get Safe Online said that research conducted by his firm found that more than 90 per cent of small firms now have anti-virus software installed on their PCs.

According to a recent survey by Connect, the two biggest IT headaches for businesses were 'everyday hassles with IT' (37 per cent) and 'security concerns' (32 per cent) 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'.