"The likelihood of getting caught online is lower because of the use of Web proxies and the payoff is much greater than physically robbing a bank."

Data harvesting

According to the IDC predictions, data harvesting was still more likely to come from malicious employees. For example, organisations needed to watch out for rogue employees who had just been fired and -- while they still had access to a PC -- may be downloading information on to a USB stick and then running off to a rival company to try and get a new job.

Data loss was also occurring due to "sheer stupidity" by employees. For example, Piff cited the case of a former MI5 boss Stella Rimington who lost a laptop containing sensitive information on MI5 employees.