UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), the national funding agency investing in science and research in the UK, has been targeted by 5.4m cyber attacks this year, a rise of 600% on the previous year, according to latest data.
The data, disclosed to The Express via the Freedom of Information (FOI) act, revealed that UKRI repelled 5,431,069 attacks in the first four months of 2025. This was a rise of 757,222 attacks in the whole of 2024 and 496,832 in 2023.
Of this figure, 236,357 were phishing attacks designed to trick staff into handing over sensitive information. A further 11,226 were logged as malware attacks, which involve hackers sending malicious software designed to damage computer systems and steal data. The remaining attacks were logged as spam or malicious emails.
“Growing volumes of increasingly sophisticated cyber attacks on critical national infrastructure and research centres underline the need for a comprehensive security strategy within the workforce,” said Sheila Flavell CBE, Chief Operating Officer, FDM Group. “Cyber skills and threat awareness are no longer the preserve of the IT team; they should be built into the DNA of each and every employee. Key to this effort should be investing in the latest accredited training, alongside enforcing robust security policies and procedures to keep malicious hackers at bay.”
“These extensive incidents underline the severity of the threat facing public and private sector organisations on a daily basis. Burying your head in the sand is no longer an option – creating a security culture must be a priority in every board room, and cyber security awareness needs to be embedded in very function. Allowing security to remain siloed as an ‘IT thing’ will leave you exposed,” added Rick Boyce, Chief for Technology, AND Digital. “The emergence of AI is seeing new threats and attacks emerge at a pace we’ve never seen before and this is driving a material increase in successful attacks across all sectors. The effect of this will compound quickly – every organisation needs to adapt moving beyond traditional approaches to protect themselves in a changing environment.”
“These figures underline daily barrage of cyber threats facing key government organisations. With so many workers now casually using third party AI tools and social platforms to collaborate and share confidential data, the risks of a cyber breach are now increasing dramatically,” concluded Arkadiy Ukolov, Co-Founder and CEO of Ulla Technology. “Tackling this problem requires a cyber-first approach, with staff fully trained on the risks of AI, as well as working from an enclosed, properly protected secure IT system, to keep data safe from hackers at all times.”
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