Report finds three in ten businesses suffering cyber attacks every week

A new report from the Department of Digital Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has found more than three in ten firms experience attempted cyber attacks at least once a week.

The Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2022 report, published on 30th March, found 31% of businesses and 26% of charities detected breaches or attacks on their data every week. The government is now calling for all organisations to strengthen their cybersecurity practices in response to the DCMS’s findings.

The report found that while the frequency of attempts to breach an organisation’s cybersecurity had increased in the past twelve months, the number of organisations reporting cyber attacks had remained the same.

Small businesses are being encouraged to adopt the Cyber Essentials scheme to protect their data from the most common threats, including phishing attacks, as well as using the NCSC’s Small Business Guide to inform their cybersecurity practices.

Businesses are also being encouraged to consider the cybersecurity of their supply chains, as well as digital services they use, when assessing preparedness towards cyber threats; this follows a wave of high profile attacks on services such as Kaseya, used by many IT service providers, Microsoft Exchange, and an attack on equipment used to manage the Colonial Pipeline oil pipeline in Texas.

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.”

Also included within the DCMS report was a note that there are currently no specific cyber threats to UK organisations in relation to Russian military aggression in Ukraine.

The Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2022 was carried out for DCMS by Ipsos MORI with the fieldwork conducted between October 2021 and January 2022.