IT support executives who do not have security systems in place at their business cannot wait until there is a problem before investing in the technology, according to an industry specialist.

Chief operations officer and president of SafeNet Chris Fedde said applications such as data loss protection were necessary in the current climate.

He said the rise in number of cyber criminals was causing data leaks through targeted theft and scam operations, with social networking and personal technology in the workplace also compromising systems through their portability.

"These expected threat attacks are bound to rise in the near future, paving way for data breaches and cyber crimes, which are already seeing an upward trend. Workforce mobility is a major contributor to data loss," Mr Fedde continued.

In December, the Scottish National Party highlighted how 25 records went missing every minute under the UK government during 2008, amounting to 13 million of them misplaced during the year.

A recent survey for Connect found that one in ten companies has lost important data as a result of a backup failure. The company has now developed a unique online backup service - http://www.connect.co.uk/services/online_backup – for SMEs to ensure they can survive any disaster.