IT contractors have a key role to play in dealing with the authentication of cloud services, an expert has claimed.

David Jevans, chief executive of Ironkey, claimed that security concerns will be a major issue for companies in the next few years.

He highlighted the fact that many users of cloud computing have no control over how their passwords are stored or managed, which can present problems.

"Authentication of these strategies on cloud services is of importance because that's how many of these break-ins seem to be occurring - [by] stealing passwords from one site and using them somewhere else," he explained.

Mr Jevans added that while the safest way to deal with sensitive functions is through separate locked-down machines, this is not practical.

Instead, he suggests that IT contractors set up virtual machines which can achieve these goals.

In other news, research by Symantec has found that three-quarters of companies have experienced cyber attacks during the last 12 months.