Data security has become the top risk concern for U.S. companies that are considering outsourcing operations to service providers, according to a study by management consultancy — Booz Allen Hamilton.

Information security is one of the top three most important factors in selecting an outsourcing partner, chosen by 50% of the respondents — ahead of financial strength, business stability and reputation. Furthermore, 85% of the respondents say they may be willing to pay 10%–15% more for extra security.

Nearly 70% of the respondents also said that they were reviewing their outsourcing strategy in response to hearing of recent high profile cyber crime, customer data theft and network security incidents.

Around three quarters of respondents (76%) perceive a higher security risk with offshore firms, rather than domestic providers, which is due to, in part, a lack of trust in legal and regulatory environments in developing countries.

Just 5% of the respondents believe that China has a strong regulatory and legal infrastructure, followed by South America (6%) and Southeast Asia (11%). Around 27% of respondents felt that India has a robust legal infrastructure.

The research also found that half of all respondents are skeptical of the security claims by outsourcing providers — 30% of the respondents find security-capability claims impossible to verify, while 20% find provider security claims not credible.