Around one in seven businesses (14%) and one in five charities (22%) said they held personal data that was not protected by techniques such as anonymisation or encryption, suggesting that the majority do protect personal data (77% of businesses and 69% of charities).

Popular tools for managing unstructured data include data encryption (62%), cloud security (60%), application security (59%), and identity and access management (56%).

Use of data encryption for impact (ransomware encryption) dropped by 38%.

47% of retail IT/cybersecurity teams reported increased pressure after experiencing data encryption in 2025

Just under a quarter (24%) of the ransomware incidents experienced by respondents involved data encryption.

61% of organizations say they need data encryption in their collaboration platforms.

Data encryption was at a six-year low, with only half of companies having their data encrypted in a ransomware attack.

44% of companies were able to stop the ransomware attack before data was encrypted, marking a six-year high.