IT contractors involved in the fight against cybercrime should treat it as warfare using military strategy, a leading information security company has claimed.

In a new book, Assessing Information Security: Strategies, Tactics, Logic and Framework, the principles of Sun Tzu's classic text The Art of War are being used to help fight cybercrime, say security company IT Governance.

The text explains how technical skills and procedural knowledge are not enough in isolation, with businesses needing clear objectives and strategies to win the war.

"Information security is ultimately a human problem. While human error is a factor, the biggest threat is the criminal, deliberately and maliciously seeking to exploit your weaknesses," says Alan Calder, chief executive of IT governance.

One of the book's authors, Dr Andrew Vladimirov believes IT professionals are engaged in "continuous warfare", with the aim being to protect your "territory", i.e. your data, systems or resources.

Research by Symantec recently revealed that 75 per cent of businesses had been victims of cybercrime in the last year.