The UK is the most targeted country for cyber attacks new Government research reveals
With some of the most catastrophic cyber attacks happening on British soil, how is this opening up new opportunities for trained professionals to fight on the frontline of cyber crime?
A number of headline worthy attacks have happened across the UK in 2025, causing massive disruptions to services, halting production and costing billions of pounds and ultimately impacting the British economy, but why is the UK such a target for cyber crimes?
The UK Government’s most recent research revealed that the UK is the most targeted country for cyber attacks in Europe. An eye watering 43% of UK businesses reported experiencing a cyber security breach or attack in the previous year, the equivalent to over 600,000 organisations.
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With four years at Learning People and a solid foundation in IT and Cybersecurity, Chris guides people through the fast-evolving tech landscape and into their dream jobs. He combines hands-on technical expertise with insider industry insights to help learners make informed career decisions.
Increasing threats and mounting costs
The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) handled 204 significant or highly significant cyber incidents in the year to September 2025, roughly one incident every two days. The average cost of one of these incidents is around £195,000, a huge hit for a small business. When scaled nationally, that average projects to an annual cost of £14.7 billion, which equates to approximately 0.5% of UK GDP.
In fact, the Jaguar Land Rover attack which took place earlier this year has been labelled as ‘the most economically damaging cyber event in UK history’ costing an estimated £1.9bn alone.
Fraud attacks claim an estimated 437,000 victims due to organisational breaches in 2023, this accounts for around £755 million in costs per year, roughly 8% of the annual cost of fraud in the UK.
Cyber security is a shared responsibility
This year, the realities of cyber attacks have hit the headlines and impacted the bottom lines of many companies. Incidents like the high-profile attacks on Marks & Spencer, the Co-op Group and Jaguar Land Rover serve as a stark reminder that the cyber threat is not just an abstract concept but a real one with real-world costs.
Huge efforts are being taken to protect UK businesses and residents, the NCSC Annual Review 2025 revealed their Takedown Service had seen over 1.2 million phishing campaigns removed from the internet, with half taken down within an hour of being detected. However, there is still growing intensity of attacks with nationally significant incidents up by 50%.
A growing need for trained professionals to protect the UK’s assets
According to the Fortinet Skills Gap Report, 86% of organisations surveyed experienced one or more cyber-breaches in 2024, of those organisations, 28% reported five or more breaches. 56% of those claimed the top cause was due to a lack of employee security awareness, with 54% naming a ‘lack of IT security skills/training’ as a main cause.
The UK cyber security sector is currently valued at about £13.2 billion and supports roughly 67,300 jobs and that is only set to grow with the increased Government priority over fighting and preventing cyber attacks.
The Fortinet report also highlighted that 89% of IT decision-makers prefer to hire candidates with certifications in cybersecurity showing a growing want and need for professionals with industry-recognised qualifications.
Our range of courses and pathways are created to equip you with job-ready skills from globally recognised cyber security certification providers like CompTIA, EC-Council, and Cisco. Our commitment to providing the best qualifications possible is also supported by us fully mapping our Security+ training to the Associate level of the UK Cyber Security Council’s Standard of Professional Competency & Commitment - the nationally recognised standard for early-career Cyber Professionals.
If you’re looking to make a career change into cyber security with no experience or are looking to increase your skillset to stand out in a highly lucrative career, then why not arrange a free call with me or one of my colleagues to see how we can support you. There’s absolutely no obligation and we are here to answer any questions you might have about cyber security qualifications or our services.
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