The government has surveyed UK businesses, charities and educational institutions to find out how they approach cyber security and gain insight into the cyber security issues they face. The research informs government policy on cyber security and how government works with industry to build a prosperous and resilient digital UK.
19 April 2023
Respondents were asked about their approach to cyber security and any breaches or attacks over the 12 months before the interview. Main survey interviews took place between October 2022 and January 2023. Qualitative follow up interviews took place in December 2022 and January 2023.
UK
The survey is part of the government’s National Cyber Strategy 2002.
There is a wide range of free government cyber security guidance and information for businesses, including details of free online training and support.
The survey was carried out by Ipsos UK. The report has been produced by Ipsos on behalf of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.
This release is published in accordance with the Code of Practice for Statistics (2018), as produced by the UK Statistics Authority. The UKSA has the overall objective of promoting and safeguarding the production and publication of official statistics that serve the public good. It monitors and reports on all official statistics, and promotes good practice in this area.
The document above contains a list of ministers and officials who have received privileged early access to this release. In line with best practice, the list has been kept to a minimum and those given access for briefing purposes had a maximum of 24 hours.
The Lead Analyst for this release is Emma Johns. For any queries please contact cybersurveys@dsit.gov.uk.
For media enquiries only, please contact the press office on 020 7215 1000.
As of 2024, ** percent of businesses that encountered the most disruptive cybersecurity breaches or attacks in the last 12 months in the United Kingdom (UK) reported them to banks, building societies, or credit card companies. A further **** percent reported it to the internet or network service provider.
As of January 2024, around 58 percent of large companies in the United Kingdom (UK) had experienced cybercrime within the past year. Medium businesses ranked second, with 45 percent of companies experiencing cybercrime. Overall, about 22 percent of UK businesses stated having experienced any form of cybercrime in the preceding year.
As of January 2024, about ** percent of organizations in the United Kingdom reported experiencing a data breach accident once a month. A further ** percent said they had encountered a data breach event less than once a month in the past 12 months. Meanwhile, ** percent said they had experienced a data breach incident once a week.
The government has surveyed UK businesses and charities to find out how they approach cyber security and gain insight into the cyber security issues faced by organisations. The research informs government policy on cyber security and how government works with industry to make the UK one of the most secure places to do business online.
You can read the press notice here.
Published
24 March 2021
Period covered
Respondents were asked about their approach to cyber security and any breaches or attacks over the 12 months before the interview. Main survey interviews took place between October and December 20209. Qualitative follow up interviews took place in January and February 2021.
Geographic coverage
UK
Further Information
The survey is part of the government’s National Cyber Security Strategy. Cyber security guidance and information for businesses, including details of free training and support, can be found on the National Cyber Security Centre website.
The survey was carried out by Ipsos MORI.
The UK Statistics Authority
This release is published in accordance with the https://code.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/" class="govuk-link">Code of Practice for Statistics (2018), as produced by the UK Statistics Authority. The UKSA has the overall objective of promoting and safeguarding the production and publication of official statistics that serve the public good. It monitors and reports on all official statistics, and promotes good practice in this area.
Pre-release access
The document above contains a list of ministers and officials who have received privileged early access to this release. In line with best practice, the list has been kept to a minimum and those given access for briefing purposes had a maximum of 24 hours.
Contact information
The responsible analyst for this release is Emma Johns. For any queries please contact 07990 602870 or cyber.survey@dcms.gov.uk.
For any queries relating to official statistics please contact evidence@dcms.gov.uk.
For media enquiries only (24 hours) please contact the press office on 020 7211 2210.
Cyberattacks are potentially ruinous events for business owners. As of 2024, the average cost the most disruptive cyber security breach in the previous 12 months in the United Kingdom was ***** British pounds across all businesses, however, this figure becomes greater as the size of a business increases. The cost of a cyber attack is not only financial, with companies having to spend time on recovering from the attacks. Methods of attackWould-be cyber attackers have a large range of tools at their disposal, with which to get around a business’s digital defenses. Fraudulent emails or being directed to fraudulent websites was by far the most common method used during 2019, with ** percent of security breaches coming in that form. Preventing future attacks Investing in new security technology is a key focus for European and American businesses. Most forms, of all sizes are committed to increasing their spending on cyber security.
The Cyber Security Breaches Survey, 2020 was run to understand organisations' approaches and attitudes to cyber security, and to understand their experience of cyber security breaches. Its aim was to support the Government by providing evidence that can inform policies which help to make Britain a safer place to do business online.
The data have been collected annually since 2016 to understand the views of UK organisations on cyber security. Data is collected on topics including online use; attitudes of organisations to cyber security and awareness of Government initiatives; approaches to cyber security (including investment and processes); incidences and impact of a cyber security breach or attack; and how breaches are dealt with by the organisation. This information helps to inform Government policy towards organisations, including how best to target key messages to businesses and charities so that they are cyber secure (and so that the UK is the safest place in the world to do business online). The study is funded by the Cabinet Office as part of the National Cyber Security Programme.
The underlying data are useful for researchers to better understand the response across a range of organisations (rather than averages) and for wider comparability over time. The survey originally only covered businesses but was expanded to include charities from the 2018 survey onwards. From 2020, the survey includes a sample of education institutions (primary and secondary schools, further and higher education). Please note that the UK Data Service only holds data from 2018 onwards.
Further information and additional publications can be found on the GOV.UK https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/cyber-security-breaches-survey-2020">Cyber Security Breaches Survey, 2020 webpage.
In 2023, when asked to choose the main cybersecurity challenges faced by their organizations in the United States and the United Kingdom, ** percent of respondents named hybrid working models and lack of understanding around cyber trends and threats. The risk posed by the lack of internal training on spotting suspicious activity ranked third, highlighted by ** percent of respondents. Meanwhile, the lack of skills and expertise represented a top challenge for ** percent of respondents.
https://sqmagazine.co.uk/privacy-policy/https://sqmagazine.co.uk/privacy-policy/
In late 2024, a boutique digital marketing agency in Austin, Texas, experienced what seemed like a minor IT hiccup. Their systems froze for six hours. What they didn’t know was that a ransomware attack had quietly encrypted their data. Within 24 hours, the attacker demanded $25,000 in cryptocurrency. The firm,...
As of January 2024, around nine in ten businesses in the United Kingdom (UK) stated having experienced a phishing attack in the past year. A further 10 percent said they had experienced hacking incidents. Additionally, around two percent reported experiencing viruses, spyware, or malware attacks.
https://sqmagazine.co.uk/privacy-policy/https://sqmagazine.co.uk/privacy-policy/
In the early hours of January 3, 2025, a mid-sized financial firm in Ohio discovered something chilling: over 1.2 terabytes of client data had been quietly siphoned off over the holidays. The attackers left no ransom demand, no calling card, just a system-wide silence and a massive void in customer...
This statistic show the market forecast of the total cyber security sector in the United Kingdom (UK) from 2010 to 2017. The estimated market size of the total cyber security sector in 2017 is 3,489 million British pounds (GBP). Cyber security exists because the threats and costs are great enough to warrant these measure. When considering the average annual cyber crime costs by industry sector it is necessary to have cyber security in place.The total market size in this statistic is comprised and various different market segments, services, and solutions. When breaking down the solution types there is: governance, content, systems, and infrastructure. In terms of market segments, included are: defense and intelligence, other public sector, enterprises, and small & medium enterprises and consumers. Broken down by IT product/service there is: software, project services & outsourcing, hardware, network, and management consultancy.
Open Government Licence 3.0http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/
License information was derived automatically
Annual data on the nature of fraud and computer misuse offences. Data for the year ending March 2021 and March 2022 are from the Telephone-operated Crime Survey for England and Wales (TCSEW).
https://sqmagazine.co.uk/privacy-policy/https://sqmagazine.co.uk/privacy-policy/
A quiet morning in Atlanta turned chaotic for a mid-sized healthcare provider. Every computer screen across the facility suddenly went dark, replaced by a single message: "Your data has been encrypted." Operations froze. Appointments were canceled. And the cost of recovery reached into the millions. Unfortunately, this isn’t a rare...
The annual reports of the Cyber Security Breaches Survey can be found on the Cyber Security Breaches Survey collection page.
Geographic coverage: UK.
If you would like any further information please contact statistics@dsit.gov.uk.
Date published | Ad hoc detail | Data tables |
---|---|---|
January 2024 | Cyber security practices among organisations who do/ do not adhere to Cyber Essentials |
https://www.ibisworld.com/about/termsofuse/https://www.ibisworld.com/about/termsofuse/
Market Size statistics on the Cyber Security Software Development industry in the UK
Open Government Licence 3.0http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/
License information was derived automatically
Estimates from Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) on fraud and computer misuse. Also data from Home Office police recorded crime on the number of online offences recorded by the police and Action Fraud figures broken down by police force area.
These tables were formerly known as Experimental tables.
Please note: This set of tables are no longer produced. All content previously released within these tables has, or will be, redistributed among other sets of tables.
As of January 2024, around ** percent of businesses in the United Kingdom (UK) encountered disruptive cybersecurity breaches or cyberattacks in the last 12 months. This is a notable increase since 2022, when the figure stood at only ** percent.
A survey conducted in the United Kingdom (UK) from September 2023 to January 2024 found that around 13 percent of businesses that had identified a data breach incident or a cyberattack in the preceding 12 months had seen at least one outcome after the incident. The most common were the situations where the website or online services were taken down or made slower and the temporary loss of access to files or networks.
Among businesses in the United Kingdom (UK) with cybersecurity policies, ** percent had policies covering how data is supposed to be stored as of December 2024. Similar percentage of organizations had policies regarding what staff are permitted to do on the organization's IT devices were the case of ** percent of the respondents.The highest share of UK businesses that had formal policies covering cyber security risks were large firms.
The government has surveyed UK businesses, charities and educational institutions to find out how they approach cyber security and gain insight into the cyber security issues they face. The research informs government policy on cyber security and how government works with industry to build a prosperous and resilient digital UK.
19 April 2023
Respondents were asked about their approach to cyber security and any breaches or attacks over the 12 months before the interview. Main survey interviews took place between October 2022 and January 2023. Qualitative follow up interviews took place in December 2022 and January 2023.
UK
The survey is part of the government’s National Cyber Strategy 2002.
There is a wide range of free government cyber security guidance and information for businesses, including details of free online training and support.
The survey was carried out by Ipsos UK. The report has been produced by Ipsos on behalf of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.
This release is published in accordance with the Code of Practice for Statistics (2018), as produced by the UK Statistics Authority. The UKSA has the overall objective of promoting and safeguarding the production and publication of official statistics that serve the public good. It monitors and reports on all official statistics, and promotes good practice in this area.
The document above contains a list of ministers and officials who have received privileged early access to this release. In line with best practice, the list has been kept to a minimum and those given access for briefing purposes had a maximum of 24 hours.
The Lead Analyst for this release is Emma Johns. For any queries please contact cybersurveys@dsit.gov.uk.
For media enquiries only, please contact the press office on 020 7215 1000.