4.3 million UK small and medium-sized businesses believe they are vulnerable to cyber attacks

Three quarters (73%) of small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in the United Kingdom lack the capability and expertise to withstand a cybersecurity attack according to their bosses, a new report from Arctic Wolf®, the leader in security operations, has today revealed. 

The report underlines the extent of the challenge facing SMBs across the country, with two in five (39%) overwhelmed by the sheer volume of security alerts their business receives. This is leading to a new phenomenon of ‘alert fatigue’, as many businesses are typically receiving up to 75 alerts a day, according to the research. 

Alongside a lack of expertise and ‘alert fatigue’, Arctic Wolf’s report also discovered finding time to manage cybersecurity is a key problem for many workforces - leaving businesses even more vulnerable to attack. Over half (55%) of the business leaders surveyed admitted cybersecurity issues are regularly deprioritised in favour of other business activity, while a third (34%) don’t have time to keep across every threat or alert. 

“Cyber attacks, such as ransomware, are growing more advanced by the day, and organisations that fall victim are experiencing not only short-term financial and operational impacts, but also long-term impacts from customers and partners losing their trust,” said Christina Richmond, program vice president, security services, IDC.

“Being able to identify and mitigate cybersecurity risk has become an essential function for all organisations, but finding the talent, tuning the tools, and developing the internal process is a significant challenge for even the largest, well-resourced organisations. These operational challenges are why organisations across the UK must leverage the outside security expertise offered by cloud-hosted security services.”

The new research, which surveyed 505 UK small and medium-sized business leaders, coincides with Arctic Wolf’s expansion of its operations into the EMEA market. The company is establishing its European headquarters in the UK and expects to open its first European Security Operations Center (SriOC) in Germany later this year, while also actively growing its presence in the Nordics and the Benelux regions. The company’s international expansion comes on the heels of the company doubling its North American sales for an eighth consecutive year and securing a $200M funding round at a valuation of $1.3 billion in 2020.

Arctic Wolf helps thousands of organisations worldwide, including hundreds with established offices in Europe, end cyber risk by identifying, responding to, and recovering from threats. The Arctic Wolf cloud-native platform is the industry’s only solution that spans the complete Security Operations framework, including Managed Detection and Response (MDR), Managed Risk, Managed Cloud Monitoring, and Managed Security Awareness—delivered by the industry's original Concierge Security®Team. 

"Arctic Wolf is seeing tremendous demand from organisations in Europe looking to embrace security operations with ease and simplicity to address the rapidly evolving threat landscape,” said Nick Schneider, president and chief revenue officer at Arctic Wolf.

“The investments we are making in the EMEA region both in our go-to-market functions and security operations will fuel our ability to end cyber risk for the customers and partners in a way that is tailored to the unique needs of the European market.”

“While the industry sells more and more point products and niche solutions, companies continue to get breached. The EMEA market has recognised that cybersecurity has an effectiveness problem and the Security Operations space is ripe for disruption,” said Clare Loveridge, vice president and general manager of EMEA, Arctic Wolf. “As the industry leader in Security Operations, Arctic Wolf makes it quick and easy for organisations to get the technology and talent that is needed to establish a world-class security program, and I am thrilled to be leading the EMEA business at this exciting time for the company.”