The internet has become the main stomping ground for cybercriminals and small businesses in IT must be aware of this, it has been warned.

Roger Thompson, the chief operating officer at AVG Technologies, explained that computer users must understand that 99 per cent of all data attacks come from the internet, stressing the need to have a proper disaster recovery system in place should the internet be central to operations.

He added that many target the financial information of small businesses in IT.

Mr Thompson continued: "The single most important thing that people can do is probably to use multiple, strong passwords, and write them down.

"Then if one account gets phished, they only lose one password, not the keys to the kingdom."

He added that dedicated web scanning software is also helpful in the work environment.

According to a recent statement by the Office of Fair Trading, 23 per cent of UK internet users have been the victim or know someone affected by online fraud.

New research from Connect found that, on average, it takes businesses that use backup tapes take 11.6 hours to retrieve and restore files. Connect is now recommending that SMEs switch to online backup.