The recent creation of the Police Central e-crime Unit has not swayed most people into having faith in high-tech criminals being caught, it has emerged.

A recent study by the Corporate IT Forum discovered that 57 per cent of 150 large blue-chip companies believe malicious high-tech crime will not be investigated by authorities properly.

Chief executive of the forum David Roberts said that business confidence in the government's ability in combating the threat of cybercrime was at "rock bottom", with political chiefs needing to understand the sheer size of the online threat.

He continued: "E-crime must be treated just like any form of activity designed to steal or maliciously damage someone else's property - as a crime - with a proper legal framework of penalties and legislation attached."

The Corporate IT Forum was established in 1996 in order to create a confidential and vendor-free environment for IT support workers to exchange intelligence on the industry.

A recent Connect survey found that the two major concerns about outsourcing services like IT support were 'loss of control' (56 per cent) and 'budget over-runs' (43 per cent).