The economic downturn could present businesses with the chance to implement new IT security measures, it has been claimed.

Chad Perrin, writing for the Tech Republic blog, commented that firms will be looking to cut down on expenditure during the recession, which may give companies the opportunity to improve their data safeguarding methods.

He stated this may manifest itself in the use of open source solutions, with businesses more likely to take this route during periods of hardship.

Mr Perrin wrote: "The financial paranoia engendered by a recession might just be able to help out, however, as long as you know how to make use of the opportunity."

He added that it is unlikely that functionality will be lost by those choosing these measures ahead of closed source proprietary alternatives.

Elsewhere, a recent study by Ian Moir and George Weir claimed that contact centres could be a target for IT security breaches.

According to a recent survey by Connect, the two biggest IT headaches for businesses were 'everyday hassles with IT' (37 per cent) and 'security concerns' (32 per cent).