Data leaks are becoming a leading source of headaches for developed countries with companies losing nearly as much to them as virus attacks, according to a new report.

Trend Micro surveyed 1600 corporate uses to explore their experiences with security threats.

Pollsters found that the loss of proprietary company data and information was ranked as the second most serious threat at work, following viruses.

It was considered to be more serious than most other threats such as spam, spyware and phishing.
More than six percent surveyed admitted to having leaked company information, 16% believe other employees caused data leaks. Users in the US, UK , and Germany are more likely to admit to leaking company data, either intentionally or accidentally, than Japanese users .

US users believe they’re slightly savvier when it comes to confidentiality with 74% say they know what type of company data is confidential and proprietary compared to 67% in the UK, 68%in Germany, and only 40% in Japan. On the other hand, end users of large companies in Japan are more aware of what type of company data is confidential compared to end users of smaller organisations.

Mobile users are also more confident. In the US , for example 79% of mobile end users say they know what’s classified information compared to 69% of desktop computer users.

The study also found that approximately 46% of companies do not have a policy to prevent data leaks. Companies in Germany and Japan are more likely than UK companies to implement data leak prevention policies. In all countries surveyed, large organisations are more likely to have preventative policies in place than small companies. X