A major company listed on the London stock market has lost £800m in potential revenues following a cyberattack on its computer systems, the head of MI5 has claimed, as fears grow over the extent of online attacks.
Security Service director general Jonathan Evans revealed the loss in a speech at the London Mayor’s Mansion House, in which he claimed the outage was “not just through intellectual property (IP) loss, but also from commercial disadvantage in contractual negotiations”.
“They will not be the only corporate victim of these problems,” he added.
Evans refused to name the company, or who was behind the attack, although he did reveal it was a state-sponsored assault. He also said MI5 is working against “astonishing” levels of cyber-attacks on UK industry.
In his first public speech in two years, Evans warned that Internet “vulnerabilities” were being exploited on an industrial scale by organised cyber criminals as well as states carrying out cyber espionage.
It is thought that many attacks go unreported as firms are unwilling to reveal the extent of the problem for fear of giving rivals the upper-hand.
According to the 2012 Detica Cyber Security Monitor, 43% of businesses believed that those involved in industrial espionage were a likely threat to their company, while 56% were concerned about state-sponsored spies.
Martin Sutherland, managing director of BAE Systems Detica, said: “We’re aware of multiple cases where companies have experienced real business loss as a result of cyber espionage.
“Industrial espionage cost the UK £17bn in 2011. It is clear that the cost of cyber crime is growing. Raising awareness and building capacity to resist threats – across both the public and private sectors – should be our top priority.”
