Cyber attacks cost the UK economy £1.9 billion

Eighteen percent of UK businesses have been the target of a cyber-attack in the last 12 months, according to a new report by Altodigital. These attacks cost the economy £1.9 billion.

Back in 2013 33 percent of companies were hacked, so Altodigital sees the current figure of 18 percent as a "welcome improvement." Each individual attack cost more than £2,000 last year.

These hacks equated to five to seven days of downtime for UK businesses, and 89 percent of staff was affected. Despite the evident progress, there are still a few things organizations are doing wrong. Forty-one percent don’t have a firewall. Fifty-six percent fail to change old passwords, and 74 percent don’t protect data stored on printers or photocopiers.