e-Security
52% of UK businesses had e-breaches in 2005
Businesses suffering malicious e-security incident: by type of incident, UK
Businesses
More than one-half of UK businesses (52 per cent) suffered a malicious or premeditated e-security breach during 2005. This was lower than in 2003 (68 per cent), but higher than in 2001 (44 per cent). Large businesses (with 250 or more employees) were especially likely to be affected, at 84 per cent.
The proportion of businesses targeted in 2005 for each type of e-security incident either fell, or remained the same, compared with 2003. Between 2001 and 2003 the proportion with each type of incident increased.
Virus infections and disruptive software remained the most common malicious breach in 2005, suffered by 35 per cent of all businesses and 43 per cent of large businesses. One in five businesses (21 per cent) were affected by staff misuse of IT systems, rising to nearly two-thirds (65 per cent) of large companies. The proportion of businesses facing attacks by unauthorised outsiders was 17 per cent, while 8 per cent of businesses suffered theft and fraud involving computers - this rose to 44 per cent of large businesses.
Nearly one-third (32 per cent) of businesses infected by a virus attack in 2005 were infected once, 56 per cent were infected a few times during the year, and 4 per cent suffered from infections once a day. Relatively few businesses (5 per cent) were affected by a denial of service attack. However, 47 per cent of these were targeted more than once, and 4 per cent were attacked at least once a day.
Households
More than one-quarter (27 per cent) of adults aged 16 and over in England and Wales, who accessed the Internet at home in 2003/04, said that their home computer had been affected by a virus in the previous year. Of these, one-third said the virus had damaged their computer.
One-third (34 per cent) of adults who used the Internet at home were also worried about it being used to access offensive, pornographic or threatening material. Those with children in the household were more likely to be worried, at 45 per cent, compared with 27 per cent of adults without children.
Measures taken in households to stop access to, or receipt of, offensive Internet material, 2003/04, England & Wales
Two-fifths (39 per cent) of adults who used the Internet at home had taken measures to stop their household accessing or receiving offensive, pornographic or upsetting unsolicited material. The most common security measures taken were blocks or filters on email, which were used by 23 per cent of households that used the Internet at home – this was up from 16 per cent in 2002/03. Other common measures, used by 19 per cent of households, were placing controls, restrictions or blocks in the browser, service provider or search engine.
Sources: Information Security Breaches Survey, Department of Trade and Industry; British Crime Survey, Home Office
Notes:
Interviewing for the Information Security Breaches Survey 2006 was conducted between October 2005 and January 2006. While results relating to activities affecting the business 'in the past year' might not exactly correspond to the 2005 calendar year, they are likely to be a fairly close approximation, and therefore to improve readability the text refers to 2005.
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