Cybercrime cost the UK economy £30.5 billion last year, hitting 1.5 million businesses, according to a study by internet service provider Beaming.
The study found that small businesses experienced a 42% increase in breaches, and cybercrime costs rose by almost 400%.
The total amount of businesses that fell victim to cybercrime last year makes more than a quarter of UK firms (27%), with the average cost including replacing IT assets, recovering data, and financial penalties came to £5,500.
Interestingly, cybercrime increased predominantly in small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) with 11 to 50 employees (42%) , while the largest (250+), and smallest (one person) decreased.
“While large businesses are proving more resilient to cybercrime, the cost of breaches is soaring, and SMEs are being hit harder than ever before,” says Sonia Blizzard, managing director of Beaming. “Businesses are investing in training and technology but they’re under sustained attack.”
According to the study, phishing proved to be the most common trick used to gain access to businesses, claiming almost 680,000 victims.
At the end of last year, cyber security firm Sage reported that almost half of the SMEs it surveyed experienced a cyber security incident in 2023, and a quarter experienced one more than once.
Sage’s director of cyber security awareness and engagement, Sophie Adhami, explained that while large organisations will have dedicated security teams, small business owners are forced to learn on the spot.
The UK;s deputy director of cyber resilience at the department for digital, culture, media, and sport, Emma Green, commented on the report, saying that small businesses need to create a culture of risk awareness from the top: “Making sure that everybody in the organisation feels some accountability to be reporting things such as phishing emails, and anything that doesn’t look right, is a really important way of finding where the attacks are likely to happen.”
“Build your systems, isolate the problem, and make sure that you’re able to continue your business as usual, because ultimately the most important thing is resilience.”
