One in three businesses faced cyber attacks last year, report says

Nearly a third of businesses and a quarter of charities have said they were the subject of cyber attacks or breaches, new data has shown.

Figures collected for the UK Government by polling company Ipsos show a similar proportion of larger and medium-sized companies and high-income charities faced attacks or breaches in 2021.

A total of 59% of medium-sized businesses, 69% of large businesses, and 56% of charities earning more than £500,000 a year were subject to attacks or breaches over a 12-month period.

This comes as many major businesses have been faced with high-profile breaches in the last year.

Royal Mail had to limit its services for weeks after hackers locked its files and demanded 80 million dollars (£67 million) to unlock them again.

WHSmith said in March that hackers had accessed some of its data in another major incident. At the start of the year, JD Sports also said the email addresses, phone numbers and physical addresses of about 10 million people might have been stolen in another attack.

However, there has been a fall in the proportion of smaller businesses who say they have identified cyber breaches or attacks. The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology said this could be because smaller businesses have been preoccupied by the worsening economic climate and have placed less focus on their cybersecurity.

The proportion of micro-sized businesses which say that cybersecurity is a high priority dropped from 80% to 69%, with the Department suggesting this could also be due to concerns of inflation.

Of all businesses surveyed, 32% of businesses said they had been subject to attacks or breaches over a 12-month period, with 24% of charities saying the same. This is down from 39% and 30%, respectively, in 2021.

Meanwhile, about one in ten businesses (11%) and 8% of charities said they had been the victims of cyber crime – which is defined more narrowly – over the 12-month period. This figure rose to a 26% of medium-sized businesses, 37% of large businesses and 25% of high-income charities.

The Government estimated there had been 2.4 million instances of cyber crime against UK businesses, costing an average of £15,300 per victim.

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