THE growing access to the Internet poses one of the greatest security threats to Irish business, according to a new report.

Research by accountants KPMG showed that most firms did not "have adequate controls in place to make sure sensitive company information could not be released onto the Internet. The survey showed that 65 per cent of companies did not know how much access to the Internet their staff had.

One company, it said, thought that just four connections were being used but, on investigation, discovered nearly 100.

In general, its survey of 1,500 businesses in Ireland and Britain, found that most companies did not have secure computer systems.

The survey said the majority of businesses failed to adopt basic controls to safeguard their computer systems. In most companies, it said, there was no formal procedure for reporting security incidents, while more than 80 per cent failed to secure confidentiality agreements with suppliers.

The survey, issued yesterday, involved 260 Irish companies with more than 300 employees each.