Ever since the start of the credit crunch, security people have been warning that workers could be tempted into crime. Now a survey of 600 London commuters appears to confirm those fears.

Asked whether they would consider selling their company secrets to a stranger, more than a third of the commuters (37%) said they would hand over the information for the right price.

For 63% of that group, the price would need to be vast, but others were more easily bribed. Ten percent of them would do it if their mortgage was paid off; 5% would do it for a paid holiday; 4% for clearing their credit card debt; and 5% for a new job. In 2% of cases, the promise of a slap-up meal would be enough to persuade them to hand over confidential information.

But when asked about disclosing credit card information, higher standards prevailed, with 80% saying they would not reveal that kind of information at any price.

The survey found that employee loyalty has changed, too, with a third saying they felt a lot less loyalty to their employers than a year ago. But 5% maintained they were more loyal because they had job security.

The commuters, who were interviewed last week at a number of central London railway stations, claimed to have access to a variety of important information in their jobs, including customer databases (83%); business plans (72%); accounting systems (53%); human resources databases (51%); and IT administration passwords (37%).

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