Children using their parents' financial details online may be exposing the information to data thieves, according to a fraud expert.

Michael Lynch, a specialist at data protection organisation CPP, said many children were unaware as to which websites were safe and those which exposed the details to any third parties, thus putting credit cards at risk of phishing attacks.

He continued: "They are putting up credit card details and home address details on the internet which can be used by fraudsters, whether it's through phishing attacks to either sell the data or commit fraud using their credit card details."

According to a report by CPP in October 2008, it was found that 77 per cent of children were likely to use the internet without supervision, with 23 per cent of them buying things using parental details without their permission.

Furthermore, 21 per cent knew the passwords of their parents for online shopping sites.

More than half of small businesses (53 per cent) believe that the most important benefit of outsourcing is guaranteed response times for IT support. London-based Connect conducted the research in 2007.