Almost half of all companies hit by online fraud

Forty-four per cent of UK businesses suffered an online security breach last year, with larger companies more likely to fall victim to wrongdoing.

And it's a figure that has almost doubled - up from 24 per cent the previous year - according to PricewaterhousCoopers, who came up with the results after surveying 1,000 companies.

PwC also found that while most executives rate IT security as one of their top priorities, the amount of the IT budget spent on it is less than one per cent.

The report put a figure on the damage lax security does - £30,000 on average each year per company.

Online banks are among the most likely to be targeted.