From its survey carried out amongst 237 IT professionals at the Infosecurity Europe show last month, the secure systems storage specialist claims that around 11% of IT professionals are breaching their own firm's data protection rules.
In addition, says the firm, 37% of those surveyed admitted at least 81% of all sensitive data stored on their portable devices was left unprotected.
Andy Cordial, Origin's managing director, said that, when you consider the level of knowledge this audience is assumed to have, working in IT and having some form of security it is hardly surprising that the number and frequency of data breaches is rising.
"I'm astounded that 30% of organisations are still oblivious to the Data Protection Act and the recommendation from the Information Commissioner that encryption be used to protect sensitive information", he says.
Delving into the research reveals that the problem of problem of sensitive data isn't restricted to any particular device as 67% of respondents to survey said they used laptops, a further 52% said they used USB stocks and 38% said they relied on CD-ROMs.
Cordial says that his advice is not to leave security to chance: "Lock it down with something that's actually proven to work or there is a strong possibility you'll be crying over spilled data", he explained.