Key findings from the Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2019

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has released the “Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2019”.

The survey, which targeted both UK businesses and charities, has revealed that 32% of businesses and 22% of charities have identified cyber security breaches or attacks in the last 12 months.

Learn more about the latest cyber survey results below.

“Cyber attacks are a persistent threat to businesses and charities”

The latest report claims that “cyber attacks are a persistent threat to businesses and charities”. The number of businesses identifying breaches or attacks may be lower than before; however, businesses that have been targeted are experiencing more of them.

The survey reports that 32% of businesses and 22% of charities have reported cyber security breaches or attacks in the last 12 months.

This percentage is much higher among medium businesses (60%), large businesses (61%) and high-income charities (52%).

What type of attacks are most common?

The report has also ranked the most common attacks among the 32% of businesses and 22% of charities that had experienced a breach or attack.

Phishing attacks were identified by 80% of these businesses and 81% of these charities. Others said that they were targeted by emails or online by impersonators pretending to be from an organisation (28% of businesses stated this as well as 20% of charities).

Others reported viruses, spyware or malware, including ransomware attacks (27% of these businesses and 18% of these charities).

Cyber Essentials 2019

The report has revealed that “over half of all businesses (56%, vs. 51% in 2018) and two-fifths of charities (41%, vs. 29% in 2018)” have implemented controls in all the five technical areas listed under the Government’s Cyber Essentials scheme.

This is excellent progress; however, it has been identified that there is a wide gap between the largest and smallest businesses when it comes to Cyber Essentials awareness as only 8% of micro businesses have heard of this scheme.

Would you like to learn more about Cyber Essentials? Learn more about the certification process or contact us for more information on certification.