The increasing use of the internet for business by companies has highlighted the need to protect their trade online, it has been stated.

eBusiness adviser at Business Link James Cope said it is now the main concern of businesses to invest in data protection systems for the internet, with client information being central to this safety net.

As a result of this, many companies are installing a larger number of policies to cover both browsing and internet use to fight against any such threats, he noted.

Mr Cope continued: "We've seen a couple of attacks on small businesses that are using older technology websites that are easy to hack."

The expert's recommendations follow a web security survey by Finjan, which understands that while businesses are increasing IT security budgets this year, IT budgets on a whole will likely be lower than in 2008.

In response to the study, 34 per cent of respondents to Finjan said they expected IT budgets to decrease, with a further 38 per cent not expecting any change.

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).