65,000 cybersecurity attacks daily on UK SMEs shows report

UK SMEs are at risk of 65,000 cybersecurity attacks daily - with around 4,500 of these being successful - and the figure could be much higher since the beginning of Covid-19 according to a new report by recruiter Robert Walters and data provider Vacancysoft.

‘Cybersecurity: Building Business Resilience’ claims the cost of data breaches to UK companies is around £2.48m per instance. Lockdown measures that changed businesses working practices overnight are being held up as a key issue. Where just 11% of UK businesses stated their entire workforce (at the same time) were able to work remotely pre-lockdown, this jumped to 70% once lockdown hit. Of that 70%, over half (53%) of these firms in the UK were able to transition their staff to remote working in less than 48 hours. However, half of companies (48%) admitted that they do not have adequate cybersecurity provision to maintain a 100% remote working model. Nathan Tittensor, director at i3Secure, a UK-based cybersecurity and data protection consultancy, said: “Although we are starting to see firms achieve certifications such as ISO 27001 to demonstrate they have robust practices and enhance customer trust, it is remote working that has really shone a spotlight on the issue.”