In addition, the security study from Check Point Software Technologies said that the arrival of Windows 7 is not expected to drive change as most companies do not plan to upgrade their fleets of laptops.

Researchers front that only 54% of corporates said they have anti-virus deployed on their laptops.

Drawing on responses from 135 IT managers and senior IT staff, Check Point reported that only 41% of respondents said they had data encryption security solutions deployed on their business laptops.

51% also said they did not have any encryption, and 8% said they did not know if encryption was in use.

Nick Lowe, Check Point's regional director for Northern Europe, said that is very surprising that the losses, thefts and malware outbreaks suffered by organisations over the past two years have had such little impact on the way UK organisations secure laptops.

"These machines are the most vulnerable point in a business IT set-up, and yet they remain largely unsecured", he said.

"It's also interesting that the majority of those surveyed are adopting a wait-and-see attitude to Windows 7 - it seems that organisations want to squeeze maximum value from their existing machines", he added.

"But the lack of security on laptops, and the lack of plans to address this, should set alarm bells ringing - it's only a matter of time before a breach or infection happens to organisations without protection."

Delving into the research reveals that, despite the lack of anti-virus protection on laptops, 72% of respondents reported they had a VPN client deployed on their fleet of portable PCs.

Check Point said that this means a significant number of organisations are vulnerable to malware attacks at mobile endpoints, which in turn could infect core networks.

And here's the bad news - these security vulnerabilities seem unlikely to be fixed over the next 12 months.

When asked if the recent launch of Windows 7 would drive replacement of their laptop fleets, 50% said they had no plans to upgrade at all.

Just 32% plan to upgrade laptops within the next year, and 17% of IT managers said within 12 to 18 months.

Respondents were asked what security measures they would take, if they did upgrade their fleet to Windows 7. 30% said they had no firm plans, whilst 38% said they would upgrade only their existing security software.

15% said they would add new security applications, and 9% would replace existing security software with an integrated endpoint suite.

Just 8% said they would use Microsoft Security Essentials.