Impact of cybercrime on companies in the United Kingdom (UK) - Statistics & Facts

The risk of cybercrime and data breaches for companies in the United Kingdom (UK) remains high, even more so with AI developments in recent years. On a global scale, UK companies are at the highest risk of a material cyberattack, according to around 84 percent of Chief Information Security Officers (CISO) of UK businesses. However, board members of UK firms are relatively optimistic about predicting the risks as only 44 percent of board members were concerned about a material cyberattack in the upcoming year. This dynamic once again confirms that board members and CISOs are sometimes on different pages regarding cybersecurity and assessing future risks.

Cybercrime at UK companies

In 2022, roughly four in 10 UK businesses identified a cyberattack in the last year. In the meantime, large companies were more likely to experience cybercrime. In 2023, despite the overall global tendency of increasing ransomware attacks, fewer companies in the UK reported experiencing such attacks compared to the previous year.

Data breaches in the UK

As of January 2023, 11 percent of companies in the United Kingdom experienced data breach incidents once a week. Despite many cybercrime incidents, the number of breached data points in the UK has decreased in the last two years. Between the first quarter of 2020 and the third quarter of 2023, the highest number of breached data points was registered in the first quarter of 2021. Regarding data breach density, the UK is in relatively good shape compared to other countries worldwide.

Cost of cybercrime in the UK

Cybercrime causes significant losses to worldwide economies. As of 2023, the estimated annual cost of cybercrime in the UK was 320 billion U.S. dollars. This figure is projected to increase to over 1.82 trillion U.S. dollars by 2028. In 2022, among other European markets and the United States, the UK had seen the highest losses through cybercrime for the second consecutive year, with around 4.21 million U.S. dollars on average for a data breach.

Most common consequences of cyber attacks in the UK

When a cyberattack hits the organization, they are more likely to have a negative impact. The most common of these were taking down or disrupting the website or online services and temporarily losing access to files or networks. In most cases, the cybercrime incident resulted in the company adding staff time to deal with the breach or inform others, while some businesses had to come up with new measures for future attacks.

What are UK companies most concerned about?

In 2023, 32 percent of UK companies' board of directors expressed concerns regarding possible significant downtime following a cyberattack, down from 42 percent in 2022. The damage to reputation due to a cyberattack was a less concerning issue in 2023, too, with possible revenue loss disturbing only 29 percent of the board of directors.
This text provides general information. Statista assumes no liability for the information given being complete or correct. Due to varying update cycles, statistics can display more up-to-date data than referenced in the text.
Published by Ani Petrosyan, Dec 5, 2023

Key insights

Number of cybercrime cases in the UK in Q2 2023
8,106
Share of UK organizations hit by ransomware in the past year as of 2022
74.7%
Most anticipated cyberattack type in the UK
Cloud management interfaces
Get more insights

Editor’s Picks Current statistics on this topic

Average cost of a data breach worldwide from March 2022 to March 2023, by country or region (in million U.S. dollars)

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Average total cost per data breach worldwide 2023, by country or region

Percentage of companies in the United Kingdom (UK) identifying cyberattacks as of 2022

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Share of UK businesses identifying cyberattacks 2022

Share of companies in the United Kingdom (UK) expecting significant increase in cybercrime within a year as of February 2023, by type of attack

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UK companies anticipating increase in cyberattacks within a year 2023, by attack type

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