Companies do not recognise the threat peer-to-peer (P2P) software poses and need education from the channel, according to research by analyst firm e-media.
The survey, commissioned by vendor SurfControl, questioned senior managers at 500 UK firms. It found that 42 per cent of respondents do not think they have a policy on P2P use, while 16 per cent do not know at all.
"Resellers have a massive part to play here. They are the consultants and advisors to end-users," said Martino Corbelli, director of marketing for security vendor SurfControl.
He added that the vast majority of content downloaded from P2P sites is either copyrighted or - even worse - pornographic.
Wendy Hoey, product manager at distributor Unipalm, said: "Most customers don't realise there is a problem with P2P.
"But the bandwidth drain and security problems are becoming better known, and we're seeing a big take-up in services because of it."
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