People are increasingly worried about the safety and security of personal data held on IT systems by government and businesses, one expert has warned.

David Smith, deputy commissioner at the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) explained that concerns about data falling in the wrong hands are at a new high.

He said: "More people than ever are worried about the safety and security of their personal details and it's clear that this is driven by a number of things.

"One of them is the recent data losses, particularly by government, and also the fact that more and more identity theft is taking place all the time."

He added that firms might want to reassure customers by explaining precisely why the data they are asking for is needed.

Firms concerned about loosing sensitive data may wish to invest in a business continuity plan, to help ensure they can restore any information in future.

Last week, the Charter Management Institute found that only 47 per cent of firms in the UK have a business continuity plan in place.

New research from Connect found that, on average, it takes businesses that use backup tapes take 11.6 hours to retrieve and restore files. Connect is now recommending that SMEs switch to www.totalrecall.co.uk