Data leaks will soon topple viruses as the biggest IT threats to UK businesses, a new study has concluded.

Coming on the back of a spate of recent high-profile data loss incidents both within Britain and the United States, research carried out by Trend Micro found that the loss of sensitive information is becoming increasingly common within the private sector.

Significantly, of the 1,600 workers questioned across the UK, US, Germany and Japan, six percent said that they have leaked company information on purposes, with 16% saying they believe their colleagues have caused data leaks.

At the same time, 67% of British workers were found to be unaware of what information is confidential, in comparison to 74% in the US and just 40% in Japan, while only one in two global firms currently has a policy in place to cover data leaks.

"The survey highlights some key challenges, including user education, inadequate security policies and the broad brush access rights typical in many enterprises today," commented Rik Ferguson, solutions architect at Trend Micro.

"Even if the regulations were clear, employees are often unaware of the corporate policy around such information."

It was also found that the majority of data leaks are caused from within a business by an employee with authorised access to sensitive information, rather than by an outside source.