UK businesses and institutions have been inundated with serious hacking attacks in 2025, with some 90% of British Universities of those sampled, and over 43% of sampled businesses experiencing at least one attack so far in the last 12 months, according to a recent government survey. This includes standout hacks like the devastating Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) breach that brought the company to a standstill, and a recent nursery chain where children's images were used as blackmail collateral.
Businesses and academic institutions have always been prime targets for hackers, but the practice has become endemic in the UK in 2025, with the vast majority of polled universities, further education colleges, and secondary schools all being hit with breach attempts over the past 12 months. In total, some 91% of universities, 85% of colleges, and 60% of secondary schools reported some form of attack in the survey.
