31% of businesses experience cyberattacks at least once per week

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Data from the Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2022 has unveiled the scale of cyberattacks against businesses these days. The survey found that 31% of businesses in the UK experience a cyberattack once per week, while 26% of charities estimate that they were attacked once per week.

The most common cyberattack method is phishing. This method of cyberattack typically involves sending malicious emails to businesses in the hope of extorting sensitive information. Other more sophisticated cyberattack methods account for 1 in 5 attacks and include denial of service attacks, malware attacks and ransomware attacks.

This data shows just how important it is for new businesses to have cybersecurity measures in place. Cyberattacks should not be viewed as rare disasters like fires or burglary – they are a much more frequent problem that many businesses are constantly experiencing. Most cyberattacks are not successful, however an increase in frequency could mean a greater chance of a cyberattack eventually doing damage if you are not suitably protected. 

When it comes to defending oneself against the most common tactic, email phishing, it is important to have spam filters in place and to take great caution when opening and replying to suspicious emails. Avoid clicking on links if you’re not sure you trust the source, and never give away sensitive information like passwords or bank details. In most cases, it’s best to never reply to such emails – once a cybercriminal knows your email address is active, they may try other phishing or cyberattack techniques. 

To fend off more sophisticated attacks (like denial of service attacks, malware attacks and ransomware), it’s often worth installing strong cybersecurity software. You should also keep other business software updated and avoid clicking on links or visiting sites that you don’t trust. Outsourcing an IT support company could be useful for helping you to deal with cyberattacks if a hacker or malware is able to penetrate your system. You should also make sure that all your data is backed up on a secure cloud server.

Ransomware is one of the nastiest forms of cyberattack. Fortunately, data shows that ransomware attacks have fallen in relative frequency – 17% of companies that experienced cyberattacks in 2017 reported being victims of ransomware, while only 4% of companies that experienced cyberattacks in the last 12 months reported ransomware being one of these attacks. While this is good news, companies should still take prevention methods against ransomware attacks as they can often cause the most damage. 

56% of businesses reported having a ‘no pay’ policy when it comes to ransomware payments. 19% of businesses claim that they were ‘not sure’ about their policy, which implies they likely have no plan in place. It is worth having some kind of policy in place so that you and your employees can act promptly. Ransomware attacks often do not give you a lot of time to react, so it’s useful to know what to do in advance.