People working in small businesses in IT or in IT support may want to remain extra vigilant during the recession, according to new research.

According to the newest report from Garlik, a major security vendor, the rates of all but one form of online crime have jumped over the last 12 months.

This means that crime is committed to users of online facilities every ten seconds, prompting the organisation to remind people of the importance of anti-virus software and firewalls.

Chief executive of Garlik Tom Ilube said account hijacking was a particularly popular means of extracting information and money, with instances rising by over 200 per cent.

He explained: "We fear that account-takeover fraud will continue to increase in 2009 due to the decline of available credit and tighter credit-checking by the banks.

"Consumers must be extra vigilant of all their online and financial accounts as well as avoiding increasingly convincing phishing scams."

This week, Spencer Kelly, the presenter of BBC's Click, told the Gartner Information Security Summit that cybercrime would never be wiped out, much like regular criminal acts.

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).