There is a significant disparity between the perceptions of information security within organisations and the reality of the matter, a study by technology consultancy Accenture has found.

The US firm’s survey of 5,500 business leaders found that nearly three-quarters of organisations (73%) believe they have adequate measures in place to ensure data security, yet more than half (58%) admitted that they had suffered at least one data loss incident in the last two years.

Accenture’s research also revealed that internal problems were the greatest risk to information security, with business or system failure cited by 57% of respondents as the largest source of breaches, followed by employee negligence and errors at 48%. Conversely, cybercrime was only quoted by 18% of business leaders as the primary source of data loss incidents.

“The volume of sensitive personal information being collected and shared by organisations has grown exponentially in recent years,” said Alastair MacWillson, managing director of Accenture’s security practice, “making data protection a critical business issue and not just a technology concern.”