The majority of companies using cloud computing systems do not have the required protection measures in place to ensure that data is safe, according to a new survey.

IT contractors could see a number of job vacancies open up as a result, with the study from Symantec and the Poneman Institute finding 75 per cent of firms felt that the move to cloud computing was occurring in a "less than ideal manner".

The study also found that 68 per cent of companies left the job of evaluating cloud computing vendors to their business managers, with 20 per cent admitting that their IT departments had no input in the decision-making process at all.

"Despite widespread interest in adopting cloud computing technologies, many organisations are 'flying blind' with respect to making them secure, potentially putting their business operations, company data and customer information at risk," said Justin Somaini, chief information security officer at Symantec.

Last month, storage centre service provider BlueSquare Data said that employment opportunities in the IT data storage sector "will continue to grow" in 2010.