Nearly Two-Thirds of UK Businesses Report Cyberattacks in Past 12 Months

UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond said that 65% of large UK businesses reported a cyberbreach or a cyberattack in the past 12 months.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — A total of 65 percent of UK businesses have faced cyberattacks in the past 12 months, while the majority of the companies have failed to ensure efficient cybersecurity, Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond said on Tuesday.

"65% of large businesses reported a cyberbreach or a cyberattack in the past 12 months … 9 out of 10 businesses don't even have an incident management plan in the event of a cyberbreach," Hammond told the Sky News broadcaster.

Hammond stressed that businesses should enhance digital security in order to repel any cyberattacks, "as the scale of the threat from cyber increases and intensifies."

According to the Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2016 data, two-thirds of big UK companies were targets of cyberattacks.

On Wednesday, Russia's Kaspersky Lab cybersecurity company said that a hacking organization, detected at the end of 2016, had hit 140 enterprises, including banks and governmental bodies, across 40 countries.