FEAR of cybercrime is hampering the growth of e-commerce among small businesses, according to a report out today.

Security fears are deterring many firms from selling goods and services via the Internet, says the survey by business leaders.

The CBI research showed that nearly eight out of ten companies did five per cent or less of their total business online, while 38 per cent did none at all. Among small and medium enterprises (SMEs), more than four out of ten (43 per cent) did no e-business.

Two-thirds of respondents in the survey said in the past year they had experienced a "serious incident", such as hacking, virus attack or credit card fraud.