When storing valuable data, laptops are not a place to keep it, according to one expert.

William Pound, the senior director of international operations at Absolute Software, told SC Magazine that when dealing with portable systems such as laptops, correct back-up regulations must be followed to ensure data is safe.

Personal information such as credit card details is much more likely to be stored on laptops as they can blur the line between work and leisure, he added.

Mr Pound continued: "There is a simple answer - tracking and recovery software which is already installed on most leading laptop manufacturers' devices.

"This would have removed all fears of the pictures getting into the wrong hands."

He highlighted this by recalling the loss of the Duchess of Kent's photographs after her laptop was stolen earlier this month.

Internet Explorer's security systems recently showed the fallibility of security systems, with the coding error allowing hackers to access systems across the world until a patch was rolled out by Microsoft.

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.