An industry specialist has warned that without a proactive approach to data security, businesses could be setting themselves up for a major fall.

Executive director of the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) Jay Foley said that good management of sensitive information is simply a matter of "best practice".

His comments follow a study by the ITRC which understood that 80 per cent of businesses had experienced a data security breach over the last 12 months, with 49 per cent of interviewees noting that theft of valuable documents was part of this.

"No matter what size an organisation is, all businesses must frequently review their security practices and take proactive measures to ensure that their confidential information is protected," he claimed.

Small businesses in IT must introduce viable security measures such as anti-virus technology and disaster recovery if they are to minimise the chance of a major failure of systems, he added.

Earlier this month, Websense found that over half of respondents to a poll claimed that a data breach could result in things as detrimental as a loss of custom and bankruptcy.

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).