The UK’s energy industry was identified as the country’s top target for cyber-attacks, accounting for 24 per cent of all incidents, according to a report from IBM.

This was followed by manufacturing and financial services, which both took on 19 per cent of attacks.

The research also found that the UK became one of the top three most attacked countries in Europe in 2021, along with Germany and Italy.

“Cybercriminals worldwide are becoming increasingly resilient, resourceful, and stealthy in their pursuit of critical data,” said Laurence Dine, global partner, X-Force Incident Response, IBM. “In Europe, we saw adversaries overwhelmingly exploiting unpatched vulnerabilities to infiltrate victim environments in 2021, highlighting the importance of adopting a Zero Trust approach to security. Businesses must start operating under the assumption of compromise, putting the proper controls in place to defend their environment and protect critical data.

“In the UK, critical industries such as energy, manufacturing and finance are key targets for cybercriminals, underlining the importance of the government’s National Cyber Security Strategy to ensure the economy remains resilient in our fast-moving digital world.”

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