Nearly nine out of 10 large UK and US companies are in breach of data protection and information management regulations because they are unaware of the information carried on employees' mobile devices, according to a recent report.

The increasing sophistication and proliferation of mobile devices among office workers means that personal information, such as name, email address and other contact points for colleagues and customers, are frequently stored on company-issued and even personal mobile phones.

As mobile access to email and other corporate applications and data becomes mainstream, mobile devices often carry commercially sensitive data and provide a route into the corporate network.

But, despite these risks, 88 per cent of 200 US and UK chief information officers surveyed by Coleman Parkes have no processes in place to track the information on mobiles.

"Loss of these devices does not just mean lost data. It can be seriously damaging to a company's reputation, and can result in regulations being breached," said Matt Bancroft, vice president of Mformation which sponsored the research.

"We expected there to be some companies which were still unaware of exactly what data their employees carry on their mobile devices, but nine out of 10 is incredible."

Two thirds of the companies surveyed said that they were not just worried about data loss when a mobile goes missing, but the fact that it could be used to access the network.

Six per cent of companies actually admitted that mobile loss or misuse had led to sensitive company data being leaked.

Ten per cent of UK companies admitted that this has happened, and more than half the respondents expected this to become a 'significant issue' over the next five years.

Two out of five companies cannot track all mobile devices to employees. Combined with the fact that so few know what data mobile devices hold, this makes it nearly impossible to work out what kind of data could have been leaked in the event of a device loss.

"Companies need to be able to manage, track, back-up and replace this vital data or they risk putting the company at risk and violating important compliance regulations," said Bancroft.

In fact, 84 per cent of respondents recognise that the cost of complying with regulations will increase with the proliferation of mobile devices and their capacity to store more critical data.