- Over 2,000 cybersecurity attacks occur each day, incurring costs as high as £195,000 each, according to a recent UK Government independent analysis.
- Modern cyberattacks are subtle, borderless, and increasingly AI-driven, making them harder to detect and more damaging than traditional crime.
- Companies like Dahua Technology, Siemens, Deutsche Telekom, and Axis Communications are taking steps to protect themselves and reassure their customers.
Two robbers entering the Louvre through the window in the Apollo Gallery and stealing the French Crown Jewels sounds like something out of a Christopher Nolan film, but we all witnessed it in real life last October.
Crimes like this, which are almost theatrical, are becoming an exception rather than the norm. Today, the modern heist rarely involves a break-in, happening behind screens, with hackers exploiting digital vulnerabilities rather than smashing their way through glass.
Over 2,000 cyberattacks occur each day worldwide. This is one attack every 39 seconds, yet many companies still treat cybersecurity as a technical function or a compliance hurdle rather than a business priority.
Cybercrime is unique because, unlike nation-state intelligence services, those who commit it can operate across jurisdictions. The pattern is usually the same. A hacker enters the IT system and blocks the servers hosting client data, to then steal money or information or demand a ransom in exchange.
What distinguishes these attacks is not just their method, but their scale. While the stolen crown jewels were worth approximately £76,000, a recent independent analysis by the UK Government found that the average cost of a significant cyber-attack for an individual business is almost £195,000—more than double. Alarmingly, modelling suggests that fraud episodes linked to organisational data breaches are likely to cost around £755 million per year.
The consequences are indeed real. Last year, close to 9.4 million customers in the UK would have received an email from Marks & Spencer notifying them that they had been dealing with a cyber incident. The retailer then confirmed that some personal customer data had been taken, but there was no evidence that it had been shared.
Yet, even when the initial damage seems to be contained, the financial impact can be severe. Marks & Spencer estimated that the attack reduced profits in 2025 by around £300 million—the equivalent of a 30% hit to profits.
Crucially, a new report by PwC has highlighted that the current cyber threat landscape is growing at an unprecedented pace, showing no signs of slowing down.
According to their findings, social engineering is evolving in sophistication, with AI-generated deepfakes, IT helpdesk impersonation, stolen identities for illicit remote worker operations, and multi-stage phishing campaigns targeting human and machine identities alike.
What's even more worrying is that threat actors are embracing AI not as an enhancement but as a core component of their crimes.
Cybercrime is unsurprisingly very difficult to contain, and it's only getting worse. As Christophe Marion, MP with the French centrist Renaissance party, said, "A cybercriminal is like a fisherman casting nets into the sea, hauling them in and seeing what he's caught."
Given this context, cybersecurity must be a key business imperative. One way in which companies are responding is by adopting internationally recognised security standards.
For example, certifications like the CC EAL 3+ (one of the most authoritative and influential information security standards worldwide), obtained by Dahua Technology, or industry standards such as IEC 62443, which Siemens follows, help reassure customers that their data is safe within the company's ecosystem.
In addition, Dahua has also adopted comprehensive measures to align with NIS2 cybersecurity requirements. These include enhancing its Secure Software Development Life Cycle(sSDLC) and implementing robust risk management frameworks that prioritise security practices of suppliers and service providers.
Others are investing in real-time threat detection. Deutsche Telekom has implemented AI systems that analyse around one billion security-relevant data points from around 3,000 data sources every day to detect attacks in real time. Meanwhile, Axis Communications has been credited with providing IP-based solutions for its video surveillance and network audio systems designed to improve security and business performance.
Ultimately, it's clear that cyberthreats are evolving rapidly. The only real question is whether companies decide to future-proof themselves and take them seriously before they're forced to.
For many, the shift is already underway. For others, it may still feel like something that can wait. But as the line between physical and digital crime continues to blur, the cost of inaction is becoming harder to ignore.
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