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Government Reveals One Third Of Businesses Experienced A Cyber Attack In Last 12 Months

A government report has revealed that one third of businesses in the UK have fallen victim to a cyber-attack in the last year.

In the last 12 months, 32% of businesses and 24% of charities reported a cyber breach or an attack. Of businesses that did report an attack, one quarter experienced website downtime, loss of access to data, or financial losses.

Phishing was the most prevalent vector of infection in all cyber-attacks with 79% of businesses and 83% of charities reporting an attempt. Online impersonation of another organisation was the next most popular method of attack with 31% of businesses and 29% of charities falling victim. Viruses and malware ranked as the third most common threat affecting 11% of businesses overall and 23% of large businesses.

Numerous high profile organisations have fallen victim to cybercrime in the last year including the NHS, Ministry of Defence, Transport for London and South Oxfordshire District Council.

The Cyber Breaches Survey 2023, produced by the Department for Digital, Media, Culture and Sport, assesses how businesses and charities approach cyber security and the prevalence of cybercrime in the UK. The annual report, released yesterday, highlights the types of businesses that have been targeted over the last year and common methods of attack.

The report revealed large and medium sized businesses are the most common target of cybercrime with 69% and 59% reporting an attack respectively. It also highlighted that professional, scientific, technical, information and communication sectors were more likely to be targeted.

Oxford based cyber security experts, OX IT Solutions, revealed why phishing attacks are so common and why it expects the trend to continue.

“It comes as no surprise that phishing attempts remain the most popular method of attack in businesses across the UK,” said Chris Cope, director of OX IT Solutions. “We are all bombarded with phishing attempts every day at work and in our personal lives whether this be text messages claiming to be from your bank or a more sophisticated scam.

“Attacks of this nature can be carried out on a mass scale and on a limited budget whilst delivering major impact. It takes just one click of a fraudulent email or fake website link to provide a hacker with access to your private data if you do not have the right defences in place.”

However, phishing attacks are easy to avoid if you know what to look out for, Mr Cope said.

“Staff training is one of the simplest ways to guard against phishing attempts,” he explained. “With the right training, most attacks are easy to spot. Promoting vigilance and education amongst staff should be a priority to reduce the number of low-level breaches.”

Surprisingly, of the businesses that did fall victim to this kind of attack in the last 12 months, only 19% implemented additional staff training to combat further attacks. Just 9% installed or updated antivirus or anti malware software and only 6% updated passwords.

Even more shockingly, nearly a third of businesses chose to take no action at all following a cyber breach or attack.

“We understand that rising wider economic costs mean not all businesses are investing in cyber security currently. However, if businesses and organisations want to protect sensitive data and prevent a costly attack, they must make cyber security a priority. Successful breaches not only harm safety but can also be damaging to reputation.

“Using unique passwords, implementing additional security levels like multi-factor authentication, and making regular backups of sensitive data are just some of the key areas businesses should focus on to remain safe online.”

OX IT Solutions specialises in providing network, infrastructure and cyber security solutions. It works with major blue-chip companies, healthcare institutions, local authorities and SMEs. Its clients include the Royal College of Nursing, NW London NHS Trust and Molton Brown.

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