The findings reinforce the concerns of UK businesses about different cyber threats, as well the potential vulnerability of their supply chains.

Over the past year, a number of prominent ransomware attacks have caused a significant impact on organisations already dealing with the challenges posed by the Covid pandemic. There is also now the added threat of ‘ransomware as a service’ in which ransomware developers lease out their malware in exchange for a share of the criminal profits. PwC’s research finds that 61% of UK respondents expect to see an increase in reportable ransomware incidents in 2022.

Expectations of an increase in ransomware attacks reflects UK businesses’ concern about a broader increase over the next 12 months in cyber threats, including business email compromise (61%) and malware via software updates (63%).