Sky Business’ new research revealed that UK SMEs yet to face a cyber-attack underestimated the financial impact by almost £85,000. Over the past year, Sky Business’ SecurityEdge blocked more than 73 million malware, phishing, and bot attacks. With ransomware expected to rise in line with AI, UK SMEs could not afford to be unprepared.

UK SME decision-makers estimated they would need to stop trading for an average of four days following a cyber-attack. Businesses that had experienced a breach in the past estimated the economic loss of being offline for this period at £123,984. In contrast, SMEs that had not been victims of a cyber-attack estimated the loss at £39,633, significantly lower by more than 68%.

The difference of nearly £85,000 (£84,351) highlighted that SMEs which had avoided attacks were drastically underestimating the financial implications of malware, bots, and phishing. Additionally, a sixth (16%) of businesses surveyed did not think a cyber-attack would cause their business to close.

The research also found a confidence disparity between smaller businesses and more established organisations. The longer a business had been running, the less likely it thought a cyber-attack would cause business closure. 25% of businesses that had been operating for 20 years or more believed a cyber-attack wouldn’t shut them down, compared to just 11% of those 1-20 years old.

Further key findings include:

• 21% of businesses yet to experience an attack don’t think they would have to close while 100% of those who have been victims said they would.
• 8% of businesses who haven’t been victims think an offline period would last 8 days or longer compared to 24% of those who have experienced one before.
• Microbusinesses (those with 1-9 employees) were more likely to underestimate the impact of a cyber attack on their business, with nearly a third (29%) saying an attack wouldn’t cause their business to close. Only one in ten (10%) of medium businesses (with 100-249 employees) said an attack wouldn’t cause business closure.

Stacey Hill, Director of Sky Small Business Group at Sky Business comments: “The risk of cyber-attacks is increasing for UK businesses. A fifth (18%) of SMEs we spoke to have already fallen victim, and research shows this figure will rapidly rise. With those previously attacked SMEs estimating average losses of nearly £31,000 for each day they are forced to close, cybersecurity must be at the top of the business agenda. A vigilant defence starts with secure connectivity, and small businesses must safeguard this to protect their revenue. Cybersecure connectivity should not be complicated. Easily accessible solutions that enable always on protection are crucial so SMEs can mitigate the risk of unauthorised threats.”

One of the biggest causes of cybersecurity breaches is the use of public unsecured Wi-Fi connections, despite this being highly dangerous as cybercriminals can easily access any devices connected. When SMEs are using connectivity equipped with Sky Business’ SecurityEdge cyber protection, any device connected to their network will be protected. SecurityEdge offers small businesses advanced features with enterprise grade security, simplified specifically for their needs.

For average SMEs, security solutions embedded within their connectivity offering can be a simple effective source of cyber protection.