More than half of UK businesses now lack confidence in at least one basic cybersecurity task, according to the government's latest skills survey. The annual research found 57% of businesses reported a basic technical skills gap, up from 49% last year, equating to roughly 808,000 companies. The largest reported weakness was detecting and removing malware, with 38% of businesses saying they lacked confidence in that task.
Experts said the rise may reflect growing awareness after high-profile breaches, rather than an actual decline in capability. Sam Thornton of Bridewell noted that malware is evolving quickly and AI is helping attackers produce harder-to-spot variants, while NCC Group's Matt Hull pointed to increasingly complex IT environments and a tendency to overlook fundamentals. The public sector, though scoring better overall, saw its skills gap nearly double to 27% despite repeated warnings about weak government systems.