The latest annual Cybersecurity Breaches Survey, being carried out by Ipsos MORI, has newly launched and will conclude in December, with the results expected to be published early next year.
Businesses have been selected at random to participate in the survey. The survey involves a telephone interview, and businesses are encouraged to put forward "the senior person with the most knowledge or responsibility when it comes to cybersecurity" to participate, the government said. The government also added that details of participants, including the identity of their employer and the answers provided will be anonymised.
Ipsos MORI has published some questions from the survey to help companies prepare.. For example, businesses will be asked how much they have invested in cybersecurity, if they have insurance that will cover them in the event of a successful cyber attack, and whether they have ever made a claim under such a policy.
In addition, companies will be asked to outline the costs they have incurred from cyber breaches or attacks in the past year, both from a financial perspective and in other terms, such as stolen data, software damage and reduction in staff productivity, as well as any loss they have sustained to share price valuation or customer numbers.
The Cybersecurity Breaches Survey 2016 revealed that 65% of major UK businesses experienced at least one cyber security breach or attack in the period of the previous year. A quarter of large firms that were victim to breaches experienced such incidents at least once a month, the survey report said.
The report also highlighted that many UK companies lack formal cybersecurity policies and a plan to manage incidents when they occur.
Last month the National Audit Office (NAO) urged the UK government to adopt a "new approach" to data security after it concluded that "too many bodies" within government have "overlapping responsibilities" for information security matters.