Over half of U.K. firms have lost data

An astonishing 55% of British companies have lost data, according to a new report of 785 IT professionals in the U.K. Conducted by the Ponemon Institute LLC, the survey found that 49% of them have had over two breaches in the last two years.

Around two-thirds of respondents said negligence, including that of outsourcers, was responsible for data breaches, compared with only 10% who said hackers were a major cause. A third said insiders were a threat.

Many firms were unable to track data breaches and find the source of the problem. Some 44% said they were not confident they could even detect a breach in the first place, and over half take several weeks to notify any customers affected.