Graham Cluley, Sophos' senior technology consultant, said that the new application is the first time such a feature has been added to a corporate IT security product.

"IT security has become a battle and companies need to start allocating funds to those areas of the security landscape that pose the greatest risk", he told Infosecurity, adding that data loss prevention solutions - which have traditionally been very expensive - are made more affordable with Sophos' new software.

"We've just completed a vox-pop survey on the streets of Bristol, in which we asked people whether they would be prepared to give their personal information to strangers", he said.

"What we found was that people are now a lot more aware of the need to protect their personal data, and this understanding is starting to permeate into the workplace. Companies are starting to understand the need to protect their data as well", he added.

By incorporating data loss prevention into its' Endpoint Security and Data Protection (ESDP) suite, Sophos claims it can offer UK businesses greater control over sensitive data, normally without any additional licensing costs.

Further details of the ESDP suite - including the new data loss prevention technology - can be found on Sophos' website.