Remote employees visit sex websites two and a half times as often as their office-based colleagues and are more likely to push their surfing habits into the realm of the illegal, according to a latest study.

The research, released today by web security firm ScanSafe, suggests that increasing numbers of non office-based employees put themselves and their employers at risk of legal liability.

Such employees are also compromising security through exposure to malware.

The study, taken from an analysis of eight billion web requests processed by ScanSafe over March, also revealed that remote workers are far more likely to visit "extreme websites" classed as offering images or footage with "extremely graphic content".

They were also deemed to be four times more likely to visit sites featuring categorically illegal activities such as bomb-making.

"It is no surprise that web habits change when staff are outside the physical confines of the office and away from the watchful eye of bosses and colleagues, " said Spencer Parker, director of product management at ScanSafe.

"What is surprising is that there is such a huge increase in visits to what most firms would deem highly offensive sites, and in some cases, illegal content.

"If employees are using a company laptop to download illegal music files from home, their bosses may be liable."

More than six million Britons now work from home or other non office-based locations on a regular basis, according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics.