IT contractors and other employees have been warned that as data is becoming more portable, the risk of loss is increasing.

Now that much company data can be accessed and stored on smart phones and other mobile internet devices, workers must take extra care with their security, according to secure USB provider BlockMaster Security.

In addition, the prevalence of new hi-tech devices may mean employees take less care of their portable USB devices, which usually hold a far greater amount of sensitive information, claims the firm's chief security officer Anders Petterson.

"Portable data and highly available data is generally at a greater risk of loss, it's something that must be thought of by organisations now," he said.

His comments follow the publication of research by software solutions provider DeviceLock earlier this month, which found that around a third of company IT decision-makers are failing to implement any sort of data leak prevention strategy.