Significant share of UK small businesses report costly cyber attacks
A recent survey shows many small UK firms suffered cyber incidents last year, with each breach costing roughly £27,000.
Research based on a worldwide questionnaire of nearly 7,000 cybersecurity decision-makers, including 1,000 from the United Kingdom, indicates that a substantial proportion of small British businesses experienced at least one cyber breach in the past year. The average financial impact per incident for UK firms was reported as $35,908 (approximately £26,650), alongside roughly 32 hours of operational downtime. Globally, firms face an average annual cost of about $52,000 and similar disruption.
The survey also highlighted broader consequences such as delayed growth plans and increased staffing expenses. In response, UK small firms are allocating about $59,700 (around £44,294) to resilience measures, ranking third highest worldwide, and 25% now link senior-executive pay to cybersecurity outcomes.
Why it matters
Cyber attacks are imposing heavy financial and operational burdens on UK small businesses, prompting higher security spending.
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