The 9.21am fast train from London to Reading is packed with commuters intent on working on the move. The businessman sitting across the aisle from me is leaning out of his seat at a right angle with one finger in his ear to make himself heard above the suit in the next seat busy closing a deal. Neither seems aware of his surroundings.

Noisy neighbours are not only a social nuisance but a security headache. Two UK business travellers in three have overheard a confidential conversation; more than a third have read sensitive information and 13 per cent have been able to use such information, according to a survey by Regus, an office provider. For those in too much of a hurry to think before they work, there can be serious consequences, as a senior intelligence official recently found out when he was suspended for leaving top-secret documents on a train.

Organisations take data security very seriously but tend to focus on the hardware, says Barry Lane, the business development manager at eWorking Solutions, a mobile working consultancy. “Most security breaches are about people,” he says. “If a telephone call comes in [someone] should say, ‘I’m on a train at the moment. May I call you back in an hour or so?’ I have heard people say that and then carry on the conversation for half an hour.”

Such indiscretion is partly the result of the blurring of the boundaries between office and leisure, Lane says. “There is less of a distinction between work and nonwork now so people can work at home, in an airport lounge and on the train. People assume that they are always in the office.”

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Travellers try to create a private zone by putting a coat or laptop on the seat next to them, says Professor Binna Kandola, a senior partner at Pearn Kandola, a business psychology firm. “We assume that because we are focused on our work and we are shutting people out, that people are doing the same thing and shutting us out.” This is, of course, a nonsense.

Carelessness puts you at risk from individuals intent on stealing information, says Ed Gibson, the chief security adviser at Microsoft UK, who used to work for the FBI. “You have to presume that when you are doing anything on a public network, in a coffee shop or airport lounge for example, that it could be read by somebody else.

“And I am not talking about shoulder surfers, but people possibly monitoring you via the internet. Being careful is the key phrase.” If in doubt pick up the phone, because anyone listening can hear only one side of the conversation, he says. Lane goes farther and recommends that people text rather than talk in public places because it’s far more private.

The law firm Norton Rose takes a serious, James Bond-style approach to client confidentiality. “Most of our projects [and the parties involved] have codenames for security reasons,” says Simon F. T. Cox, a partner in corporate finance. “So if people have sight of documentation it’s not going to be apparent what the subject matter is.” Codenames have to be user-friendly and lawyers can earn themselves a bottle of champagne for coming up with something original, he says.

Cox makes use of high-tech gadgets to make sure that he can use his laptop securely wherever he is working. He also encourages a commonsense approach, such as keeping your voice down in public when you are on the phone. “We try to ensure that when we are travelling we sit with colleagues so that there is no risk of people overlooking our laptops or documents,” he says.

Not everyone is as circumspect. Cox recalls a litigation partner having to warn a fellow train traveller that he shouldn’t be reading legally sensitive documents. “The chap said, ‘What’s it got to do with you?’ And the partner replied, ‘I’m acting for the other side.’ I think the papers were put away very sharply after that. These things do happen,” he says.

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