Introducing regulations that may potentially punish IT contractors for data security breaches could cause problems, it has been claimed.

According to ITPro, Barclays managing director of information risk management Stephen Bonner believes that making IT contractors, other employees and businesses responsible for the consequences of their actions may result in a delay in breaches becoming apparent.

The website reports that he told a keynote InfoSecurity 2010 audience: "If you trust them (employees) and engage with them, you can find out things you never knew."

Data breaches cost an average of $98 (£64) to deal with in the UK, where regulatory demands to report breaches have yet to be fully implemented, according to a recent report from PGP.

The study across 133 organisations in five leading IT tech countries also indicates that the costs of dealing with a problem are higher in countries where these regulations have been introduced, such as the US, where the average cost per data breach is $204.