A quarter of IT managers within small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in Europe believe that employees are ultimately responsible for IT security breaches, according to research by Websense.

The survey, of IT managers and employees across five European countries, revealed that employees are spending an average of just under two hours a day on the Internet - with over half an hour browsing non work-related sites. 

However, IT managers believe that employees are spending an average of 48 minutes a day surfing non-work websites - equivalent to four hours a week.

The poll found that 47% of European IT managers use Web filtering software to protect their employees from hidden web-based threats.

It found that 23% of SMBs have Internet use policies in place but do not require an employee to officially sign the policy. A further 16% admitted to not having a usage policy at all, saying that trust in their employees was adequate in order to prevent abuse.