Nearly half of UK businesses have experienced a cyber attack
Nearly half (49%) of UK businesses have experienced a cyber attack, a new study has found, indicating the evolving threat of cybercrimes to businesses.
The 10 sectors that have experienced the MOST cyber attacks:
Rank | Sector | Percentage of respondents that have
experienced a cyber attack |
1 | Education | 78% |
2 | Arts, Entertainment and Recreation | 68% |
3 | Accommodation and Food | 67% |
4 | Real Estate Activities | 58% |
5 | Health and Social Care | 52% |
6 | IT and Communications | 51% |
7 | Retail and Wholesale | 50% |
8 | Construction | 49% |
9 | Other Services | 47% |
10 | Public Sector and Defence | 46% |
*Please see full survey results and data here
According to the findings, the education sector has experienced the most cyber attacks, with 78% of businesses reporting this.
Indusface found that 83% of the education sector don’t actively train their employees in cyber security — the third lowest percentage after transport (89%) and accommodation (97%).
A cyber attack can have highly problematic outcomes for businesses within the education sector specifically, such as hackers gaining access to an administrator or teacher’s sessions, and confidential personal information.
The arts, entertainment and recreation sector ranks second, with 68% of respondents having experienced a cyber attack. 32% of businesses in the sector are not actively training employees in cyber security.
This can result in arts, entertainment and recreation businesses experiencing email hacking attacks across industries (61.54%).
The accommodation and food sector ranks in third place, with 67% of survey respondents reporting that they have experienced a cyber attack. 97% of respondents in this sector are not actively providing employee training in cyber security.
Email hacking is the most common form of cyber attack
Almost two thirds (64%) of all survey respondents reported that email hacking was the method used in their cyber attack, suggesting more training needs to be done in this particular area to ensure the industry can keep its systems safe.
The five sectors that experience the LEAST cyber attacks:
Rank | Sector | Percentage of respondents that have
experienced a cyber attack |
1 | Financial Services | 26% |
2 | Admin and Support | 31% |
3 | Professional and Technical | 32% |
=4 | Transport | 41% |
=4 | Manufacturing | 41% |
*Please see full survey results and data here
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