Cybersecurity consultancy Bridewell has released its latest report, Cyber Security in Critical National Infrastructure (CNI), detailing the impact of escalating ransomware and phishing attacks within the UK CNI sector, along with the loss of profits resulting from the associated downtime.

In this latest survey of 521 staff responsible for cybersecurity at critical national infrastructure organisations in the UK, 45% of energy companies admitted that they have suffered disruption to their operations as a direct result of a cyber-attack.

According to the survey, the energy sector is struggling to react quickly to cyber-incidents and mitigate the damage they cause. While phishing attacks on energy firms are dealt with in an average timeframe of 8.99 hours, ransomware responses take 14.84 hours and nation-state attacks take as much as 18.77 hours on average to respond to.

As a result, energy firms are actively enhancing their cybersecurity measures. Almost every energy organisation (94%) is now leveraging AI-driven tools, including AI-enhanced data loss prevention and endpoint protection. 

Energy companies are also expecting to spend more on IT security than last year, with 51% saying that their outlay will increase on 2023’s expenditure.

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Anthony Young, chief executive officer of Bridewell, said: “The energy sector’s role in global economies and society as a whole makes it a particularly vulnerable industry.

“The sector must fortify its cyber-defences with incident response and reporting, defined risk management practices, regular audits and training programmes to futureproof its operations. It’s promising that the sector is already adopting AI-driven solutions and planning to invest more in cyber security in order to protect itself.”

Survey participants gauged the biggest current threats across the CNI landscape as malware (36%), data theft or misuse (33%), phishing attacks (33%), and ransomware (29%). 

The combination of these threats is putting pressure on companies to enhance their cyber defences and response strategies, with the majority of UK CISOs now focusing more on preventing cyber-threats than on recovery strategies in a proactive approach.