Dan Price, Cheshire Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC), has called for small businesses across the county to increase their business resilience to protect them from cyber crime.
The newly released Government Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2025 found that phishing is still the most prevalent and disruptive type of breach or attack, with 85% of businesses said they had experienced a phishing attack, up slightly from 84% last year.
The survey also found that UK businesses experienced 8.58 million cyber crimes over the past 12 months – up from 7.8 million in the previous 12 months.
On a positive note, fewer businesses (43%) said they had experienced a cyber breach or attack in the last year, which is down on last year’s 50%.
However, of the businesses who did report a cyber breach, around half of those went onto experience cyber crime. This shows how important it is to increase cyber resilience and knowledge to protect small businesses.
The Police and Crime Commissioner funded a cyber awareness programme, run by the North West Cyber Resilience Centre (NWCRC), specifically for small businesses to arm themselves with the key knowledge and tools to become more resilient against online business fraud.
Dan (pictured) is now running a series of events across the county to highlight the need for small business resilience, with the first of those being at Chester Zoo on May 16.
He said: “Cyber crime can have a devastating impact on businesses. Prevention is the best form of defence. I am working closely with the North West Cyber Resilience Centre to ensure all Cheshire businesses have access to help and support preventing them from falling foul to cyber criminals.”
DCI Chris Maddocks, head of economic and cyber crime at the North West Regional Organised Crime Unit, said: “Cyber crime is one of the fastest growing crimes in the UK and with the rapid advent of new technologies such as generative AI, it is evolving and growing very quickly.
“Preventing cyber crime and online fraud through education and funded training is a key priority for us at the NWROCU. We will continue to work with the NWCRC, the PCC and police forces in Cheshire, to make the region a safe place to do business.”
DI Dan Giannasi, heads up the North West Cyber Resilience team, and added, “We’re strongly encouraging West Cheshire businesses to come along to our event at Chester Zoo and find out more about the effects of cyber breaches and attacks on small businesses.
“We work closely with the PCC’s office and Cheshire Police to ensure that small and medium businesses have access to the practical advice that they need to remain safe and resilient.
“The NWCRC offers long term support and regular updates for businesses through our free membership.”
The Cheshire Cyber Security Programme was launched for small and medium businesses last year, and includes free membership and training from the NWCRC, which is a police-backed not-for-profit organisation launched in 2019.
The programme offers 150 free membership places for the NWCRC, providing free cyber security awareness training and one-to-one advisory sessions for each business.
Small and medium businesses across West Cheshire can sign up to the breakfast briefing event at Chester Zoo on May 16 here: https://www.nwcrc.co.uk/event-details/business-security-chester-zoo
