“The idea that a cyber attack could be existential is no longer a fringe view”
The annual survey of 500 IT decision-makers reveals that, for the fourth consecutive year, cyber is the leading cause of both downtime and data loss.
To Threaten Business SurvivalIn the wake of highly disruptive attacks on M&S and Jaguar Land Rover, 65% of organisations now think a serious cyber attack could threaten their survival, according to Databarracks’ Data Health Check 2026.
Thirty per cent of organisations cited cyber incidents as their biggest cause of IT downtime over the last 12 months, ahead of hardware failure at 19%. Meanwhile, 43% of large organisations reported losing data as a result of a cyber attack. These figures confirm cyber as the dominant factor affecting business continuity.
Resilience Priorities Shift Towards Integration
Integrating IT and business resilience is the leading resilience priority in 2026, cited by 39% of organisations, just ahead of updating continuity plans at 38% and improving backup processes also at 38%.
Challenges from AI-Driven Cyber Attacks
AI-driven attacks have more than doubled in frequency in the last 12 months, affecting 25% of organisations. They are now seen as the biggest resilience challenge facing organisations over the next five years. The rapid increase in such attacks is forcing organisations to reassess their defensive strategies and invest in new detection capabilities to counter sophisticated threats.
Trends in Ransomware Incident Recovery
Only 18% of organisations that suffered a ransomware attack paid the ransom, while 59% recovered from backups. This shows a preference for internal recovery methods over meeting attacker demands. This approach helps organisations avoid funding criminal activities while maintaining operational continuity through reliable data recovery strategies.
Rising Confidence in Organisational Resilience
Seventy-six per cent of organisations believe they are more resilient than they were 12 months ago, suggesting positive developments in how businesses prepare for and handle potential disruptions.
Commenting on the findings from the annual Data Health Check survey, James Watts, Managing Director at Databarracks, provided his analysis on the current state of cyber resilience.
“The idea that a cyber attack could be existential is no longer a fringe view. It is now the majority position. We can’t dismiss it as alarmism because it’s grounded in what organisations are experiencing. Cyber is still the leading cause of IT downtime and data loss, and AI-driven attacks are adding to the pressure, more than doubling in frequency in the last 12 months.”
With organisations now prioritising integration and improvement to backup processes, Databarracks expects to see more coordinated incident response and a stronger baseline of cyber resilience. If adoption of air-gapped and immutable backups continues to increase, as the trend suggests it will, more organisations will also be in a stronger position to recover from ransomware without paying attackers.”
Watts added:
“Encouragingly, the data also shows that organisations are growing in confidence. They believe they are more resilient than they were 12 months ago and better able to respond to a crisis. The next step is ensuring that confidence is backed by preparation, testing and exercising so recovery is proven in practice and not just assumed.”
Databarracks Image: AlexLMX
Source: Cyber Security Intelligence