Monday 3 July 2017

A quarter of businesses believe they cannot stop cyber crimes happening

The Government is being urged to do more to help businesses protect themselves from cyber crimes as a quarter of London businesses (24%) say they are not capable of preventing such crimes from happening.

London Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) made the call following the findings of a ComRes commissioned survey of more than 500 businesses across the capital.

It also found that if cyber crimes, such as hacking, phishing and online fraud, do take place, a fifth of firms (19%) say they would be unable to mitigate the consequences.

The findings were broadly similar across small and large firms.

Chief Executive of LCCI, Colin Stanbridge, said: "Cyber crime has been on the radar more recently with some high profile and widespread hacking attacks.

"These findings show that too many businesses believe themselves to be at risk of cybercrime and unable to do anything about it if does happen.

"We need more to be done to raise awareness about how businesses can protect themselves and would also like Sadiq Khan to appoint his promised Chief Digital Officer as soon as possible."

A previous survey carried out last year by LCCI found businesses were missing out on crucial resources to help them defend against a cyber attack.

When asked about eight different government schemes designed to help protect against online attacks, just 13% of those surveyed had used any of the resources.

In every single case, at least 65% were unaware of the existence of the scheme being mentioned and the highest uptake was 9% - in the case of Action Fraud.

ENDS

Media contact
Katharine McGee
T: +44 (0)20 7203 1897
M: +44 (0)7827 241528
E: kmcgee@londonchamber.co.uk

NOTES TO EDITOR:
1. London Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) is the capital's largest and most representative business organisation, with members ranging in size from multi-national companies to SMEs and sole traders.
2. Colin Stanbridge, Chief Executive, is available for further comment and interview.
3. ComRes surveyed 530 London business leaders between 23 May and 19 June 2017.
Data was weighted to be representative of all London businesses by company size and broad industry sector.
ComRes is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules. Data tables are available at www.comresglobal.com
4. ComRes surveyed 508 London business decision makers online between 16th May and 6th June 2016. Data were weighted to be representative of all London businesses by company size and broad industry sector. ComRes is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules. Data tables are available at www.comres.co.uk.
This survey was carried out by LCCI in partnership with ComRes and asked businesses whether they were aware of and had used the following schemes: Action Fraud, Cyber Streetwise, 10 Steps to Cyber Security guide, the London Digital Security Centre, the Cyber Security Information Sharing Partnership, 'Responsible for Information' e-learning course, the Cyber Essentials scheme and Innovation vouchers.