UK sees a 31% increase in cyber crime amid the pandemic

U.K. businesses have lost over £6.2 million to cyber scams over the past year - with a 31% increase in cases during the height of the pandemic (May-June), new research shows. Police data, analyzed by cyber security company Nexor, reveals how 3,445 U.K. businesses fell victim to cyber scams during the period September 2019 to September 2020. Of those cases, 1,740 were reported since lockdown was enforced.

The most common type of attack was hacking through email or social media, which accounted for 53% of attacks over the year, leading to a loss of £2.9 million. Scams caused by hacking of computer servers was revealed as the second most common type of attack on businesses over the 12 month period.