For a business to be successful, it needs to earn as much profit as possible, which means cutting costs anywhere it can.
However, one area that companies should not scrimp on is their cyber security, as this could be a false economy, leading to greater expenses further down the line.
With technology advancing all the time and cyber attackers becoming more proficient in targeting potential victims, the risk of facing a cyber breach is constantly growing.
The threat of a cyber attack
According to government figures, 43 per cent of businesses faced a cyber attack over the last year. Even charities are not exempt from these breaches, as 30 per cent reported being targeted during the 12 months.
While many of these are sorted by IT support services so they cause minimal disruption to the business and limit the financial repercussions, some attacks can be catastrophic.
In fact, the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) reported a record-breaking 204 nationally significant cyber attacks in the year to September 2025, which is more than double the previous year at 89. This amounts to an average of four nationally significant breaches every week.
It also revealed that 429 incidents were handled in total, with 18 of these being ‘highly significant’, which means they could have caused substantial impact on national services if left undetected.
This is a 50 per cent increase from the year before, with Dr Richard Horne, chief executive of the NCSC, saying: “Cyber security is now a matter of business survival and national resilience.”
What is the cost of a cyber attack?
Not only do cyber breaches damage a company’s reputation and data security, it can have serious financial implications.
According to the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, the average cost of a cyber attack for a UK business is £195,000.
For small and medium-sized enterprises, this could be hugely detrimental, and may even force the business to collapse.
The total cost of significant cyber attacks in the UK is thought to be in excess of £14.7 billion, showing just how expensive online breaches can be.
One big attack on a national service, such as the rail network, could potentially cost the economy £1.8 billion for just one week’s worth of disruption. Furthermore, National Rail itself would be hit with a £123 million loss.
The importance of cyber security
To avoid the expense of trying to amend all the issues that could occur after a cyber breach, it is essential that all businesses, both big and small, have good-quality online security.
Dr Horne warned companies: “The best way to defend against these attacks is for organisations to make themselves as hard a target as possible.”
He added: “The future of their business depends on the action they take today.”
To help businesses, the NSCS has developed a toolkit to create solid cyber security foundations.
This gives entrepreneurs and start-ups key actions to protect themselves from cyber criminals, with the threat of online attacks growing all the time.
In fact, the Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2025 revealed that as many as one in two small businesses were attacked online last year, which demonstrates it is not just large corporations that are being targeted.
For more advanced protection and a tailored approach to tech security, businesses should consider an IT support company that protects their technology and keeps their data, programmes, equipment and software as safe as possible.
What does cyber security do?
High-tech cyber security services assess each business’ system for any weaknesses through penetration testing. This checks there is no gap in the protection, and that the security is able to block any potential attack.
It can also prevent any cyber criminals from exploiting vulnerabilities in your code by making sure there are none. Security patches correct these errors immediately to protect systems from risk.
Staff training in cyber security is also important, as is backing up data, limited physical access to computers and particular documents, and having strong password and authentication security.
Not only does an IT support team help to create a tailored cyber security program for each business, they also offer support when a breach is suspected or when an employee needs help implementing the system.
This ensures that the cyber protection remains strong and there is no risk of leaving the business vulnerable to a targeted attack.