UK companies experience an increase in cyber attacks

Other results show that 78% of respondents said that they have been attacked and 42% told researchers that they had experienced more than one incident in the year. And on the outlier edge, 13% said that they had been victim to more than 10 separate security incidents over the year.

According to the senior cybersecurity professionals polled, this is a threat that is growing. Increasing availability of attack software and a growing sophistication in the approach used by attackers means that businesses must continually update their approach to cybersecurity in order to keep data protected.

Respondents indicated that there are four key threats facing businesses today: phishing (experienced by 57%), trojans (experienced by 32%), patch exploitation (experienced by 26%) and DDoS attacks (experienced by 21%). Nearly 23% of businesses say that they may have lost customer data thanks to these vectors. About 44% of companies admitted that they feel particularly vulnerable to phishing attacks that use social engineering.

Most security professionals are developing solutions to combat the issues. The report found that nearly 50% of businesses advocate increasing staff training and 20% recommended an internal policy of increased awareness to ensure that staff are updated regularly as threats evolve and develop. And perhaps threat intelligence and information-sharing has taken a front-burner position. A full 99% of businesses feel that sharing cybersecurity experiences will become one of the most effective ways to combat the growth and spread of threats.