August 2023 had 73 cyber incidents with more than 79 million records breached.

This compares to 146 million in July, 14 million in June, 98 million in May, 4.3 million in April, 42 million in March and 29.5 million in February, but it still doesn’t come close to the astounding 277.6 million records breached in January 2024.

Human error has proven to be the leading cause of cyber breaches this month with organisations urged to assess their preparedness and vulnerabilities as a matter of urgency.

Here’s the other top stories you need to read:

Organisations left vulnerable

Four out of five survey respondents don’t feel confident that their company has an adequate cyber resilience strategy that meets today’s security demands.

Despite both the rise in threats and the high percentage of respondents whose organisations suffered recent attacks, there hasn’t been a corresponding uptick in measures to shore up cyber resilience.

Data breaches cost firms £3.4m

A new annual report from IBM shows that data breaches are costing UK companies an average of £3.4m, a decrease from the £3.8m in 2022.

The data also indicates that UK companies using AI and automation in their cybersecurity measures cut costs by an average of £1.6m.

Cybersecurity vital to HR sector

Phishing attacks pose a major HR risk that can be mitigated by employee training. Although many HR leaders believe it’s not their responsibility, with risk from the insider threat growing, security experts say its time they get involved too.

Network Resilience Coalition

Some of the world’s largest suppliers of network technology, including BT and Cisco, have joined forces to form an industry alliance focused on aligning technology providers, cyber security experts and non-profits to help solve some of the most pressing cyber security problems affecting data and networks.

In-demand cybersecurity skills


The nature of the cybersecurity sector means an ever-changing landscape of skills are required. Here are the skills most in demand for 2023 so that you can keep ahead of the game:

  • Threat hunting and analysis
  • Cloud security expertise
  • Zero trust architecture
  • AI and machine learning proficiency
  • Incident response and recovery
  • IoT security skills
  • Regulatory compliance knowledge
  • Ethical hacking and penetration testing
  • Cryptography mastery

New US security regulations

New reporting rules will force public companies to include their cybersecurity set-up in their annual report, as well as disclose cybersecurity incidents within 4 days. Will the UK follow suit?

Education sector at high risk

Experiencing the highest rate of ransomware attacks in 2022, schools also exhibited the highest rates of ransom payment at 47%. Experts say a larger investment in their cybersecurity is critical.

Upskilling students

As students gear up to go back to school this September, schools are being encouraged to take advantage of free resources set up by the government, inspiring young people to aim for careers in cyber.

Cybersecurity and your ESG strategy

The impact of data breaches and cyber threats on businesses, societies and the environment make cyber security a key consideration in businesses’ environment, social and governance strategies.

Experts respond to police breach

In Northern Ireland, police experienced a major data breach which exposed personal details of 10,000 staff, publicly. Cybersecurity experts say police should be able to locate anyone who downloaded the information.

Met Police investigate suspected data breach

The Met Police are investigating a suspected data breach after “unauthorised access” was gained to a supplier’s system. Whilst they are unsure of what data has been accessed, it is not thought that the company held personal details such as addresses or financial information.

The Electoral Commission hit by massive cyber attack

The UK election watchdog, The Electoral Commission (TEC), has been the victim of a “complex” cyber attack which has potentially exposed the data of more than 40million voters.

US emails in Russian ally hands

Human error resulted in emails intended for the US military to be sent to the West African nation of Mali; known for its ties with Russia. The UK’s Ministry of Defence launches an investigation after the typing mishap.

NHS affected after cyber attack

12 million people could be at risk as ambulances around the country struggle to properly record patient data, many resorting to pen and paper. Trouble began after a cyber attack on healthcare software company Ortivus affected servers.

Japan cyber security breach

More government agencies have been targeted, with Japan’s cyber security agency suffering months-long breach

Australia’s cyber problem

Most Australian organisations withhold news that they suffer from a cyber attack, according to new research by Cloudflare. Despite a massive 76% of respondents saying they had suffered a cyber attack in the last year, only 27% revealed incidents to the authorities.