Cyber attack fears soar in UK manufacturing and retail, but action plans lag behind
Since autumn 2024, the share of UK manufacturers worried that cyber attacks will hit their supply chains has risen almost sixfold, and wholesalers and retailers are more than five times…
New ONS figures show a sharp rise in the number of UK businesses worried that cyber attacks will disrupt their supply chains. The home delivery expert Parcelhero says manufacturers and retail firms in particular are concerned.
David Jinks M.I.L.T., Head of Consumer Research at Parcelhero, says: ‘Cyber attacks used to be seen as an IT department problem. The latest ONS Business Insights and Conditions survey shows manufacturers and retailers now see them as a threat to the supply chain itself. Among manufacturers, 18.5% now cite cyber attacks as a supply chain concern over the next 12 months, up from just 3.2% in September 2024. In wholesale & retail it’s 13.1%, up from 2.4%, and across all UK businesses it has risen from 4% to 13.3%.
‘AI is following the same path from a low base. In manufacturing, concern is up from 1.4% to 7.5%, in retail from 3.6% to 8.9%, and across all businesses from 2.9% to 10.1%.”
‘The rise follows a series of attacks on household names. M&S and the Co-op were hit in April 2025. M&S suspended online orders for more than six weeks, and the Co-op said attackers took the records of all 6.5 million of its members. The Cyber Monitoring Centre (CMC) estimated the combined cost at £270m to £440m. In August 2025 a cyber attack halted production at Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) and spread through around 5,000 businesses in its supply chain. The CMC put the cost to the UK economy at about £1.9bn, potentially the most economically damaging cyber event ever to hit the UK.
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