A survey of IT staff within 50 Australian enterprises during August found only 16 percent of security professionals were "very confident" that security policies were being followed. At the same time, only 72 percent of businesses said they were confident that employees follow security policy.

The survey, commissioned by Workshare Inc. through U.K. research consultancy Loudhouse Ltd., also found 26 percent of Australian respondents believed they had information security "under control."

When the same survey polled 359 U.S. security executives, it 46 percent are relying on PDF file conversions to enforce information security policies with 6 percent reporting no information leaks from their company.

Workshare Chief Executive Officer Joe Fantuzzi, said 94 percent of organizations are running on faith or have no automated way of educating users and enforcing data protection policies which explains escalating consumer concerns about identity theft.

Samia Rauf, Workshare director of communications, said the Australian business community and government agencies are highly sensitive to the importance and consequences of information leaking outside their organizations.