Two-thirds of enterprises in the UK were breached in the past 12 months, causing damages of up to £3m

Some 24% of all businesses have experienced one or more cyber security breaches in the last 12 months, while 65% of large firms faced a breach over this period, according to a recent report.

Breaches are more common among administration or real estate firms (39%).

Businesses that invest in cyber security are more likely to have experienced breaches than those who spend nothing on it (33% versus 8%). “This may in part reflect the qualitative finding that having a breach is often a catalyst for investment. At the same time, it could also be that businesses investing in cyber security are better at identifying breaches, since they are more engaged with the topic”, the report says.

The most common types of breaches experienced are viruses, spyware or malware (68%) and impersonation of the organization (32%). Viruses, spyware and malware are also typically the types of breaches that most disrupt businesses.

“Across all businesses, the costs of cyber security breaches may be underestimated for a variety of reasons, and many businesses may assume the costs are negligible, despite potentially substantial costs resulting from a single disruptive breach,” authors of the study say.

The most costly breach captured in this survey is purported to have cost £3 million, representing the entire estimated cost of cyber security breaches in the last 12 months for the business in question. This case highlights the importance of taking action to prevent and protect against these kinds of attacks.

The Cyber Security Breaches Survey is based on the answers of 1,008 businesses in the UK.