UK businesses are having to deal with more cyber attacks than ever before, the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has warned.
In its report, Cyber Threat to UK Business Industry 2017-2018, published today, the NCSC said that the scale and number of data breaches increased rapidly in 2017.
The centre also named a number of new cyber security trends for businesses to look out for in 2018.
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Between October 2016, when it first became operational, and the end of 2017 the NCSC recorded around 34 significant cyber attacks, and 762 less serious incidents.
One of the biggest of these attacks was the WannaCry ransomware attack, which affected a number of companies and NHS organisations.
The report analyses some of the biggest data breaches that were felt last year by companies including Equifax, Verizon and Uber.
"The last year has seen no deceleration in the tempo and volume of cyber incidents, as attackers devise new ways to harm businesses and citizens around the globe," said NCSC chief executive Ciaran Martin.
"The NCSCs aim is to make the UK an unattractive target to cyber criminals and certain nation states by increasing their risk, and reducing their return on investment.
"We have adopted a proactive approach to dealing with the increasingly challenging cyber landscape and in tandem with the NCA are taking a proactive approach to combating cyber crime."
Future threats that the NCSC warned businesses to be weary of include vulnerabilities created by the "internet of things" as more users link their devices to household appliances.
"The internet of things and its associated threats will continue to grow and the race between hackers and defenders capabilities will increase in pace and intensity," the report stated.
Cloud security was also identified as a potentially exposed area, as the document added: "They will take advantage of the fact that many businesses put too much faith in the cloud providers and dont stipulate how and where their data is stored. This could lead to high profile breaches involving UK citizen information."
The practice of "Cryptojacking", where hackers illegally use a computer's processing power to mine cryptocurrency, was also named as an emerging cyber security threat.
Cyber security still not low on list of priorities for businesses
Despite the concerns laid out in the report, a survey by Fujitsu found that only one in 10 UK businesses thought cyber crime was the biggest challenge to their future economic success.
Fujitsu VP head of enterprise & cybersecurity Rob Norris stated:
With threats we face today only set to rise, all organisations in the public or private sector, no matter what shape or size, are vulnerable to a cyber-attack. With the ripple effect of an attack no longer within the four walls of an organisation, businesses need to rethink their approach and stop defying cybersecurity practices.
Although organisational awareness is on the rise, many still struggle to put in place the right measures in place to safeguard employees, customers and the broader business
The report has been published on the same day that a three-day cyber security conference opens in Manchester, which will host around 1,800 experts from across law enforcement, government and the private sector.
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