Direct and indirect costs of attacks could cost billions.
Cyber-attacks could amount to a cost of £64bn for UK businesses in the past three years.
According to research from ESET, the direct costs of cyber attacks account for £37.3 billion of this total cost when considering direct costs including ransom payments, stolen/lost funds, legal and regulatory costs, disruption to operations, staff time spent dealing with the attack, costs of third-party expertise, and higher cyber insurance premiums.
Also, indirect costs of cyber attacks account for £26.7 billion, including loss of clients, the opportunity cost of redirecting resources to incident response, reduced competitive advantage due to the theft of corporate intellectual property, and the subsequent need for increased cybersecurity or IT budgets.
The most frequently cited significant direct cost was staff time spent dealing with an attack, according to 63 percent, whilst the most significant indirect financial burden was the need to increase cybersecurity budgets, with 66 percent of businesses identifying this as a major cost.
Jake Moore, global cybersecurity advisor at ESET, said: The rising costs of cyber-attacks – both direct and indirect – prove that no business can afford to overlook cybersecurity. Investing in expert-managed solutions, robust threat detection, and staff training can significantly reduce long-term financial and operational risks.
“Cyber resilience is no longer optional – it's essential for safeguarding business continuity and maintaining customer confidence in an increasingly digital world.”
Written by
Dan Raywood is a B2B journalist with 25 years of experience, including covering cybersecurity for the past 17 years. He has extensively covered topics from Advanced Persistent Threats and nation-state hackers to major data breaches and regulatory changes.
He has spoken at events including 44CON, Infosecurity Europe, RANT Forum, BSides Scotland, Steelcon and the National Cyber Security Show, and served as editor of SC Media UK, Infosecurity Magazine and IT Security Guru. He was also an analyst with 451 Research and a product marketing lead at Tenable.
