94% of UK business leaders support limiting ransom payments for public entities.

More than a third (34%) of UK business leaders who support a proposed ransom payment ban believe it would lead to increased government support and intervention to safeguard cyber resilience.

96% of surveyed UK business leaders from companies with revenues of £100 million+ believe that ransomware payments should be banned across both public and private sectors.

A third (33%) of UK business leaders believe that a ban would decrease the prevalence of ransomware attacks by reducing the incentive for attackers.

In real-world situations within the private sector, if a ransom payment ban were to take hold, only 10% of UK business leaders said they would comply if they were attacked.

71% of UK organisations experienced a cyber attack in the past year.

9 in 10 UK organisations tested elements of their recovery capabilities in the last 12 months, which is a significant increase from previous years.

Just 17% of UK organisations paid the ransom following a ransomware attack.

55% of consumers in the UK don't feel adequately protected in the sharing economy (including vacation rentals and other travel-focused gig economy services).

46% of UK HR leaders reported that security concerns directly triggered their HR software purchases last year.

75% of UK HR leaders consider security a critical feature when researching and implementing HR software.

Nearly half (45%) of UK HR professionals are worried about privacy risks related to AI-powered HR tools, which is the highest percentage among all countries surveyed.

In the U.K., 58.1% of surveyed IT/security professionals reported being pressured to keep a breach confidential, even when they believed it should be reported to authorities.

In the U.K., 64%. of IT/security professionals highlighted the importance of reducing their cyberattack surface by disabling unnecessary tools or applications.

Exposure to mobile scams is highest in the US (51%) and UK (49%), and notably lower in DACH (38%).

Although the amounts paid by UK ransomware victims continued to rise in 2024, extortion negotiations involving ransomware experts remained generally effective, often resulting in reductions of over 60% from the initial demands to the final payment.

Extortion (including ransomware) was the primary cause of cyber losses, accounting for 28% of claims.

Despite the decline from 2023, ransomware claims in 2024 remained approximately double the totals recorded for 2020, 2021, and 2022.

Data breaches accounted for 17% of claims. This includes hostile and accidental external breaches, but excludes extortion.

Despite the 20% decrease from 2023, UK cyber claims in 2024 remained approximately one-third higher than the totals recorded for 2020, 2021, and 2022.