Newly published research has warned that IT managers are not as secure as they think they are.

According to a poll by research firm Dynamic Markets, over 90 per cent of IT managers believe that have good security protection, but 15 per cent of companies surveyed did not have any IT security systems in place beyond antivirus software and a firewall.

Over a quarter indicated that they had found software that breached security policies on their networks.

"Businesses can no longer rely only on antivirus software and firewalls as a safety net," said Geoff Haggart, vice president of Websense, which commissioned the study.

"New web security threats such as spyware and phishing escalate each week, as employees' personal and business use of the internet increases. By protecting employees from the potential threats, businesses are also protecting themselves."

The most popular security add-on was spyware blocking, which was used by 65 per cent of the respondents, with internet filtering second at 57 per cent.

Across Europe the French suffered the lowest level of security attacks and correspondingly audited their PCs more often than any other national group. Two thirds of French PCs are audited every month, compared to the UK where barely half of PCs were audited annually.

The French also come out as the most relaxed IT nation. Over one in five of all European IT managers found their jobs more stressful than moving house or getting married, but nearly two thirds of French subjects had no such stresses.

Dynamic Markets contacted 500 European IT managers in the UK, France, Germany, Italy and The Netherlands for the research.