Around half of businesses and a third of charities have experienced some form of cyber security breach over the past 12 months.

According to a new report by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), the risk of a cyber-attack is higher for larger businesses, with 74 per cent experiencing a security breach in the past year.

High-income charities are also more susceptible to an attack, with 66 per cent of charities with an annual income of £500,000 or more reporting a security breach over the period.

The report found that phishing is the most common form of attack, accounting for 84 per cent of breaches.

Impersonation scams are also common, making up around a third of security breaches.

Roughly a third of businesses and a quarter of charities have undertaken cyber security risk assessments over the past year, which rises to 63 per cent of medium-sized business and 72 per cent of larger businesses.

The report said that the most common cyber threats are relatively unsophisticated and recommended that businesses and charities protect themselves with measures such as updated malware protection, cloud back-ups, and network firewalls.

The DSIT estimates that around 70 per cent of businesses and half of charities have some of these measures in place.

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