SCOTTISH companies are being warned they face huge financial losses caused by fraud committed by their own employees.

The Scottish Business Resilience Centre (SBRC) fear fraud crimes will exceed £3bn this year, with a staggering 85 per cent of fraud committed by dishonest staff.

The SBRC, set up as a "one-stop shop" to give security advice for Scottish businesses, said studies showed financial gain was the biggest single motivation.

It is now calling for all Scottish businesses to step up their efforts to reduce the potentially crippling impact of employees stealing the company 'Crown Jewels' - saying much as five per cent of annual revenues can be lost to staff fraud.

Whilst high profile cases such as the 'Sony hack' - where personal data, e mails exchanges and scripts were leaked at the huge corporation- have highlighted the damage faced by large companies, the SBRC has warned that small businesses are just as likely to be targeted and can face greater losses.

And it has confirmed representatives including speakers from the former US secret service, psychology and legal sectors will be giving practical advice on insider fraud to business owners at a conference in Edinburgh next month.

The SBRC said that 88 per cent of insider fraud was carried out by permanent staff, although sub-contractors and suppliers also played a key role.

Insider crimes include selling and disclosing sensitive company data, sabotaging equipment and processes, and allowing illegal third party access.

Deputy Director of the SBRC, Brian Gibson said: "The vast majority of people working in Scotland are professional, well motivated and honest.

"But the staggering figures highlight growing evidence that companies are facing a continued threat from employees, both past and present, who seek to gain personally from their position of trust within a business.

"This is not the work of hi-tech hackers, a 'cuckoo in the nest' can easily pinpoint exactly where to source important material or assets.

"The financial figures don't tell the whole story - businesses who suffer an insider attack often find it is the damage to their reputation and future business that is the most crippling result of fraud.

"It's in everyone's best interest that we stop being complacent and work together to stop these crimes."

The conference will be held at the RBS conference centre at Gogarburn in Edinburgh next month.

It will include speeches, guidance and workshops from Homeland Security, Police Scotland and Napier University.

A package of training materials will also be launched at the event. Modules include advice on how how to better manage internal processes in the event of redundancy or staff departures, simple advice such as ensuring passwords are constantly changed and denying external entry to files and documents. Other topics covered are recruitment, social networking, identifying vulnerable staff, whistle-blowing, counterfeiting and organised crime. The scheme is designed to be affordable and accessible to all business, regardless of size. Firms can select only specific modules relevant to them, and there is also an option to complete the full module package and receive full accreditation.

Brian added: "Our Insider Threat modules have been devised to help companies - big or small - to identify vulnerable or weak areas that may be susceptible to insider acts.

"We want businesses to understand there is something that they can do to help stop this. We're not just looking to raise awareness".

"The cases at Sony, and perhaps more relevantly, the leaking of classified information between Formula One teams, serve to highlight that nobody is safe from the insider threat."