The majority of UK IT decision-makers, almost three-quarters (74%), received notification of a cyberattack or vulnerability in their software supply chain in the past 12 months, according to new research commissioned by BlackBerry.
The survey of 200 IT decision-makers and cybersecurity leaders across the UK, conducted in April 2024 by Coleman Parkes, comes as the UK Government works to strengthen digital supply chains with a £2.6bn ($3.32bn) National Cyber Strategy.
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Out of the 74% of UK IT decision-makers who found a vulnerability or cyberattack in their software supply chain, almost two in five (38%) said it took their organisation up to a month to recover.
The majority of UK IT leaders confirmed a high level of impact in terms of financial loss, data loss and reputational damage following a software supply chain attack.
“How a company monitors and manages cybersecurity in their software supply chain has to rely on more than just trust,” said Keiron Holyome, VP of UKI & emerging markets at BlackBerry. “IT leaders must tackle the lack of visibility as a priority.”
UK organisations confirmed having strict security measures in place to prevent attacks in their software supply chain, with 54% confirming the implementation of data encryption and 43% with multi-factor authentication.
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By GlobalDataAlmost all respondents were confident in their suppliers’ ability to prevent the exploitation of a vulnerability within their environment.
“However, a lack of technical knowledge and confidence to act on potential threats continues to expose vulnerabilities for cybercriminals to exploit, with resulting attacks having greater financial impact compared to two years ago,” Holyome added.
The global cybersecurity market will be worth $290bn by 2027, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 13% between 2022 and 2027, according to GlobalData’s Cybersecurity – Thematic Intelligence report.
David Bicknell, principal analyst at GlobalData, said: “Organisations have learned how to cope with cyberattacks that deliberately target enterprise technology such as networks, cloud storage and endpoint devices.
“But AI is a game-changer. Now, organisations must respond to AI attacks that can adapt to a specific environment, seek out weaknesses and exploit them. This is uncharted territory.”
