IT contractors promoting cloud computing technology will find that business concern over use of the service is an issue of trust, it has been claimed.

Firms are looking for assurances that the data they outsource will be well looked after during the period of the contract and not retained after it, according to Dan Raywood, online news editor at SC Magazine.

"The argument around cloud computing and security really comes down to outsourcing and can you really trust who you are outsourcing to?" he said.

By 2012, around 15 per cent of the UK's software market will be delivered by cloud services, according to research from technology and analysis organisation TechMarketView, published last week.

Mr Raywood adds that firms are still holding concerns over the security of virtualised networks.

According to the latest data from Infosecurity Europe, general business movement towards cloud computing has coincided with an "explosion" in cyber attacks.