Over a third of cyber-attacks result in job losses

Cyber-attacks continue to plague both organisations and their employees

LONDON, Sept. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- In the past 12 months, over half of organisations were impacted by cyber threats. Larger companies in particular were much more likely to come under attack.

The severity of these incidents is directly contributing to job losses. Of 500 UK IT, resilience and cyber security professionals surveyed, 37% reported that cyber-attacks resulted in dismissals.

Last year, Databarracks' Data Health Check (DHC) found that cyber-attacks are organisation's leading cause of downtime and data loss. In 2024, that is still the case.

Data lost to cyber incidents varies greatly by company size, with larger businesses five times more likely to be impacted.

Chris Butler, Resilience Director at Databarracks, commented:

"It should come as little surprise that cyber remains organisations' leading cause of downtime and data loss. The real news is that cyber is now having a significant impact on employees.

"Over a third of those surveyed in the DHC report job losses as a result of cyber-attacks. These could be IT or Security staff being dismissed in direct response to the breach, or wider layoffs from business disruption.

"Cyber-attacks on businesses are often seen as victimless crimes because losses are covered by insurance. These results show that attacks have a personal impact.

"Today, IT teams are faced with significantly more risk and threats to the continuity of their organisations, which can have a profound impact on their wellbeing. But the same can be said for employees across a business.

"Staff may be uncertain about what an attack means for the future of their company, and by extension their own job security. Your first line of defence is your staff, and so it is crucial that they are kept well-trained and appropriately informed in the event of an incident."

Read the highlights from the Data Health Check 2024: https://datahealthcheck.databarracks.com/2024/ 

Download the full DHC report: https://www.databarracks.com/resources/data-health-check-2024