How much does a cyber breach cost a UK business?

The average cost of the most disruptive breach is £3,550 for UK businesses. For businesses that experienced negative outcomes such as data loss or financial theft, the average cost rises to £8,260. Medium and large businesses face average costs of £10,830 per disruptive incident.

How much should a small business spend on cybersecurity?

UK businesses typically allocate 13.2% of their total IT budget to cybersecurity. More than half of UK small businesses increased their cybersecurity spending in 2024. 85% of UK firms plan to boost their cyber budget for 2026. The cost of prevention is significantly less than the average breach cost of £3,550.

What is ransomware and should UK businesses be worried?

Ransomware is malicious software that encrypts your data and demands payment for its return. Approximately 19,000 UK businesses were hit by ransomware in 2025. The median UK ransom demand has doubled to $5.37 million, and average recovery costs reach $2.58 million excluding the ransom itself.

How do supply chain attacks affect UK businesses?

Only 14% of UK businesses formally review cyber risks from their immediate suppliers. 35.5% of all global data breaches in 2024 originated from third-party compromises. Supply chain attacks add an average of £241,620 to the total cost of a breach and take 267 days to detect and contain.

EDR vs Antivirus: Why Traditional Antivirus Is No Longer Enough

Traditional antivirus detects known malware using signatures. EDR monitors endpoint behaviour in real time, catching zero-day exploits, fileless attacks, and living-off-the-land techniques that signatures miss.

Key Facts

85%of breaches involved phishing as the attack vector (DSIT 2025)

99.9%of compromised accounts had not enabled MFA (Microsoft)

67%of medium businesses reported cybersecurity breaches (DSIT 2025)

612,000UK businesses affected by cyber breaches in the past year

Last updated: March 2026

EDR vs Antivirus: Feature Comparison

Feature	EDR£3–£10/endpoint/moRecommended	Antivirus£1–£4/endpoint/mo
Signature-based detection
Behavioural analysis
Fileless attack detection
Zero-day protection
Investigation tools
Automated response		Basic quarantine
Threat hunting capability
Real-time visibility		Limited

When to Choose Each Option

Choose EDR if...

You want real protection against modern threats. Any business serious about cybersecurity — particularly those with remote workers, sensitive data, or compliance requirements — should use EDR.

Antivirus alone is insufficient if...

You handle sensitive data, have compliance obligations, use cloud services, support remote workers, or have been targeted by phishing. Traditional antivirus misses the majority of modern attacks.

Cost-Benefit Analysis

EDR costs £3–£10 per endpoint/month versus £1–£4 for antivirus. The difference — roughly £2–£6 per endpoint — is trivial compared to the cost of a single ransomware attack that antivirus missed. For a 50-endpoint business, upgrading from antivirus to EDR costs approximately £100–£300/month extra.

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The AMVIA Recommendation

Replace traditional antivirus with EDR — or better, MDR (which includes EDR plus 24/7 human monitoring). Microsoft Defender for Business is included in M365 Business Premium and provides EDR-level protection at no extra cost. If you are not on M365 Business Premium, AMVIA can deploy a dedicated EDR solution starting from £3 per endpoint per month.

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