or an understanding of the current threat from cyber crime for UK PLC, we are including the executive summary from the Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2024.


F The


Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2024


Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2024 is a research study for UK cyber resilience, aligning with the National Cyber Strategy. It is primarily used to inform government policy on cyber security, making the UK cyberspace a secure place to do business.


The study explores the policies, processes and approach to cyber security, for businesses, charities and educational institutions. It also considers the different cyber attacks and cyber crimes these organisations face, as well as how these organisations are impacted and respond.


Cyber security breaches and attacks remain a common threat


• Half of businesses (50%) and around a third of charities (32%) report having experienced some form of cyber security breach or attack in the last 12 months.


• This is much higher for medium businesses (70%), large businesses (74%) and high-income charities with £500,000 or more in annual income (66%).


• By far the most common type of breach or attack is phishing (84% of businesses and 83% of charities).


• This is followed, to a much lesser extent, by others impersonating organisations in emails or online (35% of businesses and 37% of charities) and then viruses or other malware (17% of businesses and 14% of charities).


• Among those identifying any breaches or attacks, we estimate the single most disruptive breach from the last 12 months cost each business, of any size, an average of approximately £1,205.


© CITY SECURITY MAGAZINE – SUMMER 2024 www.citysecuritymagazine.com


For medium and large businesses, this was approximately £10,830.


For charities, it was approximately £460.


There were some changes this year to the question that seeks to capture the overall incidence of cyber attacks and breaches. Due to these changes, it is not possible to make direct comparisons between 2023 and 2024.


Cyber hygiene


The most common cyber threats are relatively unsophisticated, so government guidance advises businesses and charities to protect themselves using a set of “cyber hygiene” measures. A majority of businesses and charities have a broad range of these measures in place. The most common are updated malware protection, password policies, cloud back- ups, restricted admin rights and network firewalls – each administered by at least seven in ten businesses and around half of charities or more.


Compared with 2023, the deployment of various controls and procedures has risen slightly among businesses:


• using up-to-date malware protection (up from 76% to 83%)


• restricting admin rights (up from 67% to 73%)


• network firewalls (up from 66% to 75%)


• agreed processes for phishing emails (up from 48% to 54%).


These trends represent a partial reversal of the pattern seen in the previous three years of the survey, where some areas had seen consistent declines among businesses. The changes mainly reflect shifts in the micro business population and, to a lesser extent, small and medium businesses.


Continued next page >


4


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36