According to data from Beaming, over 1.5 million British businesses were affected by security breaches by hackers in 2023, losing over 31.5 billion pounds ($40 billion).
Beaming contacted 500 business leaders and asked them about security that affected their organization in 2023. In addition, it asked them about the cost of managing each incident. The costs included money spent on data recovery, replacing IT assets and people, business interruption, lost revenue, and regulatory penalties.
Taking into account various factors, such as the type of breaches and the size of UK businesses, Beaming came up with a report: Price of Insecurity: The Cost of Business Cybercrime in 2023.The report showed that the total cost of breaches has increased by 138% since 2019, when the estimate was £12.8 billion.
See also: Data Breaches: A Huge Threat to Businesses
Over a quarter (27%) of UK businesses fell victim to cybercrime in 2023 with an average cost of £5500.
It is worth noting that the rates of attacks on larger (250+ people) and smaller (one person) businesses decreased. However, they increased in small and medium-sized businesses. Small businesses (11-50) experienced the largest increase in terms of the number of victims (42%) and cost (396%), between 2019 and 2023.
“While large enterprises are proving more resilient to cybercrime , the cost of breaches is rising and small and medium-sized businesses are being hit harder than ever,” said Beaming CEO Sonia Blizzard.
“Businesses are investing in training and technology, but they are under constant attack. So as the use of technology helps businesses grow, investment in cyber training must also be maintained.“.
See also: United Kingdom: Many small businesses do not recognize online fraud
The good news is that businesses of all sizes appear to have increased their investment in cybersecurity, with most now providing training to their employees and adopting tools like firewalls, VPNs, and other protection technologies.
However, cyber threats are numerous. According to the report, phishing (679,000 victims) was the most common attack vector, followed by malware (426,000) and insider threats (412,000).
Protecting businesses from cyber threats
British businesses need to take several steps to address potential breaches. As we mentioned earlier, one of these is training staff on cybersecurity to recognize and avoid phishing attacks and other tactics used by hackers.
See also: Mobile malware: A major risk for businesses
Additionally, businesses should use advanced security systems, such as firewalls and intrusion detection software, to protect their networks from attacks. These systems constantly monitor data traffic for suspicious activity and can automatically block threats.
🔒 Protect your privacy with Proton VPN
Swiss VPN from the creators of Proton Mail — strict no-logs policy, strong encryption, and built-in NetShield that blocks ads, trackers, & malware.
- ✔ No-logs, based in Switzerland (except 14-Eyes)
- ✔ NetShield: blocks ads, trackers & malicious domains
- ✔ Covers all devices — free version available
The link is an affiliate link — SecNews may receive a commission at no additional cost to you. It does not affect the independence of our article writing.
is also useful for protecting sensitive data. Encryption converts data into unintelligible text, which can only be decrypted with a special key.
Finally, UK businesses can implement disaster recovery policies and breach response plansso that they are ready to react quickly and effectively in the event of a security breach.
source: www.infosecurity-magazine.com
