Demand for freelance IT security experts could be set to rise as a majority of UK businesses experience attempts to hack into their networks.

Research carried out for the latest biennial Information Security Breaches survey from PricewaterhouseCoopers found that around two in three UK firms have detected outside parties trying to access their networks without permission on at least one occasion in the past year.

Notably, such a high proportion has been partly attributed to the movement towards wireless technology, with this leaving many businesses more vulnerable to hackers, though relatively few are currently taking extra steps to protect themselves.

Commenting on the findings, Chris Potter, who works as a OneSecurity partner with PwC, stated: "Given the increased criticality and confidentiality of information held on virtual storage, organisations need to respond quickly to close this control gap."

At the same time, the report also found that British businesses are increasingly looking at ways of limiting staff access to outside sites, with these being seen to pose a data security risk when used recklessly.

This comes soon after the Security Awareness Special Interest Group advised businesses to converge their security measures, though many may need to call on specialist IT contractors to achieve this.