The government’s latest annual cybersecurity skills survey found that 57 per cent of UK businesses lacked confidence in at least one basic cyber task, up from 49 per cent the previous year. Researchers said the rise may reflect increased scrutiny after high-profile breaches, rather than a decline in organisations’ actual abilities.

The finding represents about 808,000 businesses, compared with 699,000 last year. Detecting and removing malware was the most common weakness, reported by 38 per cent of businesses, 47 per cent of charities and 23 per cent of public sector organisations. Charities generally reported the widest gaps, while the public sector’s overall gap nearly doubled to 27 per cent; experts pointed to limited resources and increasingly complex IT environments as challenges.