The average annual cost incurred by British firms who have fallen victim to these breaches is around £857,000, adds Price Waterhouse Coopers (PwC).
SavoyStewart.co.uk analysed findings from Gov.uk to see how much money 811 UK firms from a range of sectors invested in cyber security during the financial year of April 2017 – March 2018.
The research concluded that finance and insurance invest the most into cybersecurity at around £17,900 – an 85% increase compared to last year.
The transport and storage sectors investment the second highest, approximately £6,570 – a modest increase of 9%. In contrast, the research revealed that the entertainment, service and memberships industries invested the least at around £770, marking the biggest decrease in cybersecurity investment at an 82% drop from last year.
Darren Best, Managing Director of SavoyStewart.co.uk commented: “As the scale and sophistication of cyber-attacks/breaches intensifies, firms cannot afford to sit back and take the importance of cybersecurity lightly. As firms now remain reliant on an online ecosystem to conduct business, they must realise their websites and digital communications can be easily targeted and exposed to cyber-attacks and breaches.
“Key decision makers need to put an urgent spotlight on cyber security by placing it high on their agenda. This includes investing a sufficient amount of money to ensure their IT estate has the capabilities to consistently get basic defences right and establishing adequate governance on cybersecurity for employees to thoroughly follow”.