Executive Summary
- The Owning Operational Resilience in 2026 survey has revealed that UK businesses suffer the highest cyber incident rate, with 3 out of 4 UK businesses suffering a cyber incident last year.
- AI attacks are seen as the biggest threats, with 43% of UK respondents predicting they will be a cause for concern over the next 12 months.
- Team fatigue and burnout were cited as a key challenge by 29% of UK respondents
Manage Engine, a division of Zoho Corporation and a leading provider of enterprise IT management solutions, announced the results of its new research, Owning Operational Resilience in 2026, highlighting that more than three-quarters (77%) of UK businesses have suffered a cyber incident in the past year, the highest rate of any country surveyed and 11% above the European average.
The survey of 1,500 IT and business decision-makers across the UK, Spain, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands found that UK organisations are grappling with Europe’s most severe skills pressure amongst IT and security teams. About 46% of UK respondents cited a skills gap driven by rapidly evolving threats as their primary operational challenge, which is the highest of any country surveyed and 9% above the European average of 37%. At the same time, UK organisations also demonstrated some of the strongest resilience indicators in the study, including high rates of formal cyber resilience frameworks, executive engagement, and post-incident review practises.
VimalRaj Sampathkumar, technical head for the UK and Ireland at ManageEngine, said, “UK organisations are facing one of the most challenging cyberthreat environments in Europe, with attacks growing in both volume and sophistication. However, the findings also show that businesses are responding proactively by investing in resilience, strengthening governance, and prioritising preparedness for AI-driven threats. The focus now must be on turning that investment into operational readiness through better visibility, stronger skills, and more integrated resilience strategies.â€
AI Attacks Are Seen as the Biggest Threat
About 43% of UK respondents predict that AI-powered attacks will be their biggest risk over the next 12 months, ahead of traditional threats such as ransomware, phishing, and data breaches. Investment priorities follow the same pattern: AI and advanced threat preparedness will be the top spending commitment for 41% of UK organisations over the next 12 to 24 months.
The findings suggest that UK organisations are not only aware of AI-driven threats but are actively prioritising investments that will strengthen their preparedness and resilience capabilities. The pattern holds across Europe: AI-powered attacks are the top predicted risk in the UK, Germany, and Italy, with investment priorities aligned accordingly.
Executive Engagement Is High but Remains Largely Crisis-Driven
Even with the UK being the strongest performing country for executive engagement in cybersecurity, board involvement remains largely reactive and crisis-driven. About 24% of UK respondents described board engagement as limited or nonexistent, with only one-third describing senior leadership involvement as very high and continuous.
A degree of strategic caution is also reflected in post-incident behaviour. While almost all UK organisations (96%) conducted a formal review after an attack and the vast majority (83%) implemented at least some form of post-incident cybersecurity improvement, 13% resolved the incident and made no strategic changes to their cybersecurity approach whatsoever. Additionally, while most organisations implemented tactical improvements following incidents, only 37% adopted broader, long-term improvements.
The research highlights a growing gap between how quickly organisations detect incidents and how long it takes for them to recover. About 94% of UK organisations detect incidents within 24 hours, but less than half (49%) recover within 10 days. About 26% said recovery can extend beyond 10 days, with approximately 6% taking more than 20 days.
Sampathkumar said, “What stands out amongst the findings is not a lack of awareness but rather the sheer operational strain organisations are under. UK businesses are investing, formalising resilience practises, and increasing board engagement, but attackers are evolving just as quickly. Cyber incidents can evolve rapidly, and unless they can be shut down, businesses become shackled to extended disruptions and escalating costs, not to mention reputational damage.”
IT Teams Under Pressure
When it comes to organisational responsibility for cyber incidents, 60% of UK respondents said operational pressure on IT and security teams has increased over the past 12 months. One in four (25%) said that workload pressures had critically limited their ability to prevent or respond to incidents.
Team fatigue and burnout was cited as a key challenge by 29% of UK respondents (the highest rate in Europe) alongside insufficient support from management (also at 29%). Both figures are notably above the European averages of 21%.
Despite mounting pressures on UK organisations, resilience planning and governance remain comparatively strong. The UK reported some of the highest levels of formal review processes, backup strategies, and resilience framework adoption of the countries surveyed, with 67% of UK businesses implementing a formal resilience methodology.
The findings paint a picture of a UK market that is both highly targeted and comparatively mature. Despite having the highest cyber incident rate of the European organisations surveyed, UK organisations also demonstrated stronger governance structures, faster detection capabilities, and higher levels of resilience framework formalisation than their peers in this study.
