UK businesses are attacked every 47 seconds
UK businesses faced a new cyberattack every 47 seconds over the summer as the volume of attempts to breach their systems online increased following an earlier slowdown.
Analysis of commercial internet traffic from business ISP Beaming shows that the attack rate increased by four percent between July and September, having fallen in the second quarter.
UK businesses experienced 168,975 cyberattacks each, on average, in the third quarter of 2021, the equivalent of 1,837 per day. Remotely controlled IoT applications and systems are the most popular targets for cybercriminals, attracting 162 attacks per day. Attempts to breach web applications also increased by 21 percent to 48 per day, on average.
Beaming's research identified 264,366 unique IP addresses used to launch cyberattacks against UK businesses during the period and traced 41,175 of them to locations in China. In addition 22,894 unique attacking IP addresses traced to the USA and 16,020 to locations in Brazil.
Sonia Blizzard, managing director of Beaming, says:
The rate of cyberattacks on businesses has been rising for years, and it appears as though this spring's decline was a blip. Each UK company with an internet connection encountered a new cyberattack every 47 seconds this summer. We must all remain vigilant.
Home and hybrid working has created new vulnerabilities. More people are accessing company data and IT systems via personal devices and unmanaged domestic internet connections, and more data is flowing beyond traditional business boundaries that could be protected with a simple firewall.
There is plenty that specialist ISPs like Beaming can do to reduce the risk, but businesses need to get serious about cyber security too and build resilience through a combination of training, technology and documented policies.
You can read more about Beaming's ongoing research into the cybersecurity landscape in the Five Years in Cyber Security guide on the company's site.
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