A WILTSHIRE computing expert is warning that businesses are not checking their online security enough.

Andy Poulton, the e-business advisor at Business Link Berkshire and Wiltshire, says firms are getting increasingly worried about potential threats to their systems but are not taking measures to combat it.

Mr Poulton, who is the Department for Trade and Industry's achieving best practice champion, said: "As the numbers of websites, e-mails and electronic files increase and the ways to access them become more flexible, the threat to your information mounts. By being able to guarantee secure online relationships, you will accrue real business benefits, such as saving time and money."

There are about 100,000 different viruses in cyberspace, according to IT security firm Sophos.

A DTI survey showed that while 85 per cent of people think IT security will take on increasing importance in the future, 80 per cent said they thought their customers and suppliers reviewed their information security less than they do themselves.

The DTI has produced a guide for businesses on how to make a computer system as secure as possible.

According to Bob Jones, managing director of Swindon-based Equiinet: "Email and internet access have become the lifeblood of many companies so security is not just an IT issue, it's a business necessity.

"It's critical that businesses fit firewalls and anti-virus protection and keep them up to date, because the consequences of neglect can be catastrophic.

"For the average managing director of a smaller business, the

online security system needs to be invisible, seamless and up-to-date.

"He hasn't the time or the knowledge to get heavily involved in all the

technicalities of protection systems so he needs the comfort of a comprehensive internet security solution such as NetPilot from Equiinet, that updates itself every hour and upgrades itself to combat new threats as they arrive."

Visit www.dti-bestpractice-tools.-org/healthcheck.