Three quarters of US firms do not consider spyware to be a problem, and most do not see unauthorised employee use of peer-to-peer file sharing services or instant messaging (IM) as major problems.

A survey conducted for Secure Computing found that only 25 per cent of US businesses recognised spyware as a major problem, despite widespread warnings about software which can covertly gather user information.

The poll of 111 US enterprise IT managers indicated that 90 per cent believe file-sharing software is not a major problem, and a surprising 40 per cent saw it as 'no problem'.

And 90 per cent of respondents saw IM as no problem or a minor problem, with 80 per cent feeling that personal email accounts were no problem or a minor problem.

Most companies polled claimed to be addressing IM, file sharing and spyware security threats primarily with workplace policies, and some with software tools and procedures.

Over 80 per cent of employers have policies addressing spyware and email, and nearly 70 per cent have policies covering IM and file-sharing software.