Third of firms suffering cyber attacks hit every week

Businesses and charities are being urged to strengthen their cyber security practices as new figures show that the frequency of cyber attacks is increasing.

Data suggests that 31 per cent of businesses and a 26 per cent of charities are suffering breaches or attacks at least once a week.

The Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2022 report revealed that the frequency of cyber attacks is rising, but that the number of businesses which experienced an attack or breach has remained the same as 2021 levels. Almost a third of charities (30 per cent) and two in five businesses (39 per cent) reported cyber security breaches or attacks in the last 12 months.

Four out of five senior managers (82 per cent) in UK businesses now see cyber security as a ‘very high’ or ‘fairly high’ priority, up from 77 per cent in 2021. This is a significant increase and the highest figure seen in any year of the cyber security breaches survey.

Small businesses are being urged to adopt the Cyber Essentials scheme to protect against the most common cyber threats such as phishing attacks and use the Small Business Guide to improve cyber security practices. Larger organisations should use the Board Toolkit to get company executives to act on cyber resilience and charities should follow the Small Charity Guide to boost cyber security operations.

Cyber Minister Julia Lopez said: “It is vital that every organisation take cyber security seriously as more and more business is done online and we live in a time of increasing cyber risk. No matter how big or small your organisation is, you need to take steps to improve digital resilience now and follow the free government advice to help keep us all safe online.”