{"id":6259,"date":"2025-08-15T15:28:02","date_gmt":"2025-08-15T14:28:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/amtivo.com\/uk\/standards\/\/\/from-m-and-s-to-smes-the-rise-in-cyber-attacks\/"},"modified":"2025-12-15T16:15:57","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T16:15:57","slug":"from-m-and-s-to-smes-the-rise-in-cyber-attacks","status":"publish","type":"standard-post-filter","link":"https:\/\/amtivo.com\/uk\/standards\/cyber-essentials\/insights\/from-m-and-s-to-smes-the-rise-in-cyber-attacks\/","title":{"rendered":"From M&amp;S to SMEs: The Rise In Cyber Attacks"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Recent cyber attacks on some of the UK\u2019s best-known businesses including Marks &amp; Spencer, Co-Op and Harrods have reinforced how important cyber security is. While these are large, well-resourced businesses, their experiences serve as a timely reminder that no business is immune.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">SMEs may assume they are unlikely targets, but the reality is quite different. According to the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/statistics\/cyber-security-breaches-survey-2025\/cyber-security-breaches-survey-2025\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">UK Government\u2019s Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2025<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\">, 43% of businesses reported experiencing at least one cyber security breach or attack in the past 12 months. For small businesses, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/statistics\/cyber-security-breaches-survey-2025\/cyber-security-breaches-survey-2025\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">this figure rises to 50%, and 41% of micro businesses (1-9 employees)<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> reported the same.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Cyber criminals are becoming more sophisticated, using automated tools and ransomware models to scale their attacks. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/statistics\/cyber-security-breaches-survey-2024\/cyber-security-breaches-survey-2024\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">According to government data,<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> by far the most common type of breach or attack is phishing (84% of businesses). SMEs are frequently targeted as entry points into larger networks, where weak or inconsistent defences can allow a single compromise to escalate into wider disruption.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">While no system can eliminate cyber risk entirely, there are clear steps that SMEs can take to help protect themselves. Certification to standards such as <\/span><a href=\"\/uk\/standards\/iso-27001\/certification\/\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">ISO 27001<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> and <\/span><a href=\"\/uk\/standards\/cyber-essentials\/certification\/\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">Cyber Essentials<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> provide the structure and assurance organisations need to assess vulnerabilities, build effective controls, and demonstrate responsibility to clients, insurers, and regulators.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">ISO\/IEC 27001 is the international standard for information security management. It offers a risk-based framework to manage digital threats, secure information assets, and create policies that reduce exposure over time.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">For businesses at the early stages in their cyber security journey, Cyber Essentials certification offers assurance to customers that your organisation is committed to protecting against common cyber threats.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Another essential area to consider is continuity planning. While ISO 27001 focuses on information security, <\/span><a href=\"\/uk\/standards\/iso-22301\/certification\/\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">ISO 22301<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> provides a structured framework to support business continuity planning and preparedness for disruptive incidents. For SMEs reliant on a small number of key people, systems, or third parties, ISO 22301 is often used to support continuity planning and recovery strategies. It enables businesses to identify their most important processes, develop recovery plans, and respond effectively when the unexpected occurs.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">With phishing and human error still responsible for a significant proportion of breaches, equipping staff with basic cyber security knowledge is a commonly recommended approach supported by industry guidance. Our online <\/span><a href=\"\/uk\/standards\/cyber-essentials\/training\/cyber-security-course-awareness-training\/\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Cyber<\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\"> Security Awareness Training Course<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0provides a practical learning tool to help organisations raise staff awareness and support internal knowledge building. <\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Together, these standards and tools give SMEs a way to build stronger foundations for cyber resilience. Certification won\u2019t stop an attack, but it helps protect your organisation by reducing risk, increasing awareness, and preparing you to respond with confidence when it matters most.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><a href=\"\/uk\/contact-us\/\">Get in touch<\/a> to explore how certification can strengthen your cyber resilience.<\/p>\r\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cyber attacks are rising for SMEs. Learn how ISO 27001, Cyber Essentials and ISO 22301 help protect data and ensure continuity.","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":6260,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_searchwp_excluded":"","footnotes":""},"standard-post-categories":[31],"standard-post-tags":[32],"class_list":["post-6259","standard-post-filter","type-standard-post-filter","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","standard-post-categories-insights","standard-post-tags-cyber-essentials"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.2 (Yoast SEO v27.2) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>From M&amp;S to SMEs: The Rise In Cyber Attacks<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Cyber attacks are rising for SMEs. Learn how ISO 27001, Cyber Essentials and ISO 22301 help protect data and ensure continuity.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/amtivo.com\/uk\/standards\/cyber-essentials\/insights\/from-m-and-s-to-smes-the-rise-in-cyber-attacks\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"From M&amp;S to SMEs: The Rise In Cyber Attacks\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Cyber attacks are rising for SMEs. Learn how ISO 27001, Cyber Essentials and ISO 22301 help protect data and ensure continuity.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/amtivo.com\/uk\/standards\/cyber-essentials\/insights\/from-m-and-s-to-smes-the-rise-in-cyber-attacks\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Amtivo UK\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-15T16:15:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/amtivo.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2025\/09\/Untitled-design-2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/amtivo.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2025\/04\/testimonialImage-placeholder.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"From M&amp;S to SMEs: The Rise In Cyber Attacks","description":"Cyber attacks are rising for SMEs. Learn how ISO 27001, Cyber Essentials and ISO 22301 help protect data and ensure continuity.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/amtivo.com\/uk\/standards\/cyber-essentials\/insights\/from-m-and-s-to-smes-the-rise-in-cyber-attacks\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"From M&amp;S to SMEs: The Rise In Cyber Attacks","og_description":"Cyber attacks are rising for SMEs. Learn how ISO 27001, Cyber Essentials and ISO 22301 help protect data and ensure continuity.","og_url":"https:\/\/amtivo.com\/uk\/standards\/cyber-essentials\/insights\/from-m-and-s-to-smes-the-rise-in-cyber-attacks\/","og_site_name":"Amtivo UK","article_modified_time":"2025-12-15T16:15:57+00:00","og_image":[{"width":600,"height":400,"url":"https:\/\/amtivo.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2025\/09\/Untitled-design-2.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_image":"https:\/\/amtivo.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2025\/04\/testimonialImage-placeholder.jpg","twitter_misc":{"Estimated reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/amtivo.com\/uk\/standards\/cyber-essentials\/insights\/from-m-and-s-to-smes-the-rise-in-cyber-attacks\/","url":"https:\/\/amtivo.com\/uk\/standards\/cyber-essentials\/insights\/from-m-and-s-to-smes-the-rise-in-cyber-attacks\/","name":"From M&amp;S to SMEs: The Rise In Cyber Attacks","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/amtivo.com\/uk\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/amtivo.com\/uk\/standards\/cyber-essentials\/insights\/from-m-and-s-to-smes-the-rise-in-cyber-attacks\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/amtivo.com\/uk\/standards\/cyber-essentials\/insights\/from-m-and-s-to-smes-the-rise-in-cyber-attacks\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/amtivo.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2025\/09\/Untitled-design-2.jpg","datePublished":"2025-08-15T14:28:02+00:00","dateModified":"2025-12-15T16:15:57+00:00","description":"Cyber attacks are rising for SMEs. Learn how ISO 27001, Cyber Essentials and ISO 22301 help protect data and ensure continuity.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/amtivo.com\/uk\/standards\/cyber-essentials\/insights\/from-m-and-s-to-smes-the-rise-in-cyber-attacks\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/amtivo.com\/uk\/standards\/cyber-essentials\/insights\/from-m-and-s-to-smes-the-rise-in-cyber-attacks\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/amtivo.com\/uk\/standards\/cyber-essentials\/insights\/from-m-and-s-to-smes-the-rise-in-cyber-attacks\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/amtivo.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2025\/09\/Untitled-design-2.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/amtivo.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2025\/09\/Untitled-design-2.jpg","width":600,"height":400,"caption":"From M&S to SMEs: The Rise In Cyber Attacks"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/amtivo.com\/uk\/standards\/cyber-essentials\/insights\/from-m-and-s-to-smes-the-rise-in-cyber-attacks\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/amtivo.com\/uk\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Standards","item":"https:\/\/amtivo.com\/uk\/standards\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Cyber Essentials","item":"https:\/\/amtivo.com\/uk\/standards\/cyber-essentials\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Insights","item":"https:\/\/amtivo.com\/uk\/standards\/insights\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":5,"name":"From M&amp;S to SMEs: The Rise In Cyber Attacks"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/amtivo.com\/uk\/#website","url":"https:\/\/amtivo.com\/uk\/","name":"Amtivo","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/amtivo.com\/uk\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/amtivo.com\/uk\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/amtivo.com\/uk\/#organization","name":"Amtivo","url":"https:\/\/amtivo.com\/uk\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/amtivo.com\/uk\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/amtivo.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2025\/10\/cropped-BAB-Amtivo-Joint-Logo-Updated-300ppi.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/amtivo.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2025\/10\/cropped-BAB-Amtivo-Joint-Logo-Updated-300ppi.png","width":371,"height":203,"caption":"Amtivo"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/amtivo.com\/uk\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amtivo.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/standard-post-filter\/6259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amtivo.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/standard-post-filter"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amtivo.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/standard-post-filter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amtivo.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/amtivo.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/standard-post-filter\/6259\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9335,"href":"https:\/\/amtivo.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/standard-post-filter\/6259\/revisions\/9335"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amtivo.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amtivo.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"standard-post-categories","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amtivo.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/standard-post-categories?post=6259"},{"taxonomy":"standard-post-tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amtivo.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/standard-post-tags?post=6259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}