One in three firms believes rivals have their company secrets

Customer databases are the main target of IP thieves

A survey of senior UK and US-based IT professionals has found that more than a third of companies believe their intellectual property (IP) is in the hands of competitors.

When asked who was responsible, 37 per cent pointed the finger at ex-employees, while 28 per cent suspected human error.

Ten per cent of interviewees blamed hackers or the loss of mobile devices.

Cyber-Ark’s fourth annual Trust, Security and Passwords survey interviewed more than 400 senior IT professionals from mostly large companies earlier this year.

The main target of IP thieves was the customer database, cited by a quarter of interviewees, while 13 per cent said their R&D plans had attracted unwanted attention.

Internal snooping within firms is also on the rise, according to Cyber-Ark's figures – in both the UK and US.

Just over 40 per cent admitted to relying on only administrator passwords to protect sensitive data, up from 33 per cent in 2009.

Cyber-Ark vice-president Adam Bosnian said that it was an organisation’s obligation to protect its sensitive information and intellectual property.

"Failing to do so, in our opinion, makes the company as bad as those who are abusing their privileged positions. You might as well sell the information to the highest bidder yourself – at least you’ll have some control over who’s got it,” said Bosnian.