Hacking and spam are on the rise and as such, small businesses in IT should take basic steps to ensure their accounts at work and home are not broken into by online intruders, it has been suggested.

Senior technology consultant at Sophos Graham Cluley stated that hackers only need a password to access entire company networks, with many people carrying over their favourite term or word on everything that requires a password.

This, as a result, makes it easier for hackers to do their job properly, he said.

Mr Cluley explained: "They maybe phished for their Facebook password and the danger at that point is that we know that 40 per cent of people use the same password for every single website they access."

A lack of proper protection can also lead to phishing attacks through Facebook and other social networking sites, making it extra important to beef up security systems on home computers, the expert added.

According to the recent Nielsen report Global Faces and Networked Places, online member communities are now used by 67 per cent of the global online population.

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).