WHEN data gets stolen, there’s an unexpected suspect in the frame.

To protect their networks from viruses and hacker attacks, most companies insist their computers are “locked down” so they can’t run unauthorised software or CD and DVD content. “But woe betide the lowly IT director that would inconvenience the CEO with such restrictions,” says Glenn Zimmerman, a technology expert with the Pentagon’s cyberspace task force. “Most senior leaders’ computers are often wide open to threats,” and it is often the CEO who holds the most critical data, he warned a London conference on Cyber Warfare last week.

The way …