The share of UK manufacturers worried that cyber attacks will hit their supply chains has risen almost sixfold since autumn 2024, according to analysis of new ONS figures by delivery firm Parcelhero. Among manufacturers, 18.5% now cite cyber attacks as a supply chain concern over the next 12 months, up from 3.2% in September 2024. In wholesale and retail it is 13.1%, up from 2.4%, and across all UK businesses it has risen from 4% to 13.3%.
The ONS Business Insights and Conditions survey also shows concern about AI rising from a low base. In manufacturing it is up from 1.4% to 7.5%, in retail from 3.6% to 8.9%, and across all businesses from 2.9% to 10.1%.
Parcelhero links the rise to attacks on household names. M&S and the Co-op were hit in April 2025, with M&S suspending online orders for more than six weeks and the Co-op saying attackers took the records of all 6.5 million of its members. The Cyber Monitoring Centre estimated the combined cost at between £270m and £440m. An attack in August 2025 halted production at Jaguar Land Rover and spread through around 5,000 supply chain businesses, at a cost to the UK economy the Centre put at about £1.9bn.
This autumn, attackers have turned to physical infrastructure. On 11 October, refrigeration controllers at hundreds of French supermarkets were reportedly set to defrost overnight, spoiling food and starting fires in some stores. A second wave on 2 November hit more than 100 shops across Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Sweden, Ireland and Estonia. The ONS survey closed on 1 November, so those incidents are not reflected in the figures. No group had been publicly identified at the time of writing, although France has publicly named Iran as being behind the attacks.
David Jinks, Head of Consumer Research at Parcelhero, said: "Cyber attacks used to be seen as an IT department problem." He added: "The fridge hacks show attackers no longer need to steal data to cause chaos. They can simply turn up the heat on the equipment that keeps stock fresh."
Concern is running ahead of action. In manufacturing, 38.7% plan no action to improve supply chain resilience, rising to 50% of retailers and 56.5% of transport and storage firms, with a further 33.5% of transport and storage firms unsure. Transport and storage is also the least worried sector: only 5.9% of its firms cite cyber attacks, and 44.8% say they have no concerns about factors affecting supply chains.
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