87% of Retailers Have No Cyber Insurance Despite Two-Thirds Being Hit by Cyber-Crime
The threat of online crime is now changing how small business owners run their companies day to day, NFU Mutual research finds.
Almost nine in ten retailers (87%) have no cyber insurance, even though more than two-thirds say their business has already suffered from cyber-crime, new research shows.
The findings come from commercial insurer NFU Mutual, which says the threat of online crime is forcing small business owners across every industry to change how they operate from day to day. More than two in five owners who are concerned about crime say the threat of cyber-crime has affected how they run their company, and 7% have experienced an attack in the past 12 months.
The research is published during Cybersecurity Awareness Month, and follows the government’s latest Cyber Security Breaches Survey, released earlier this year, which found that around 612,000 UK businesses had reported a cyber breach or attack in the previous 12 months.
Retailers exposed on every front
More than two-thirds of retailers say their business has fallen victim to cyber-crime at some point. Customer fraud (33%), phishing scams (25%), data theft or breaches (24%) and AI-generated scams (16%) were the incidents suffered most often.
Despite that, 87% of the retail decision-makers surveyed have no insurance covering a cyber-attack, and only one in five provide their staff with IT security training.
Tradespeople are not immune either
Two in five tradespeople say their business has suffered from cyber-crime, with phishing scams and ransomware high on the list of threats they have faced. Almost two-thirds describe cyber-crime as a major concern for their operation.
‘No-one is immune’
Nick Baker, Cyber Specialist at NFU Mutual, said: “We know cyber-crime is a very real threat, and our latest research shows no matter what type or size of business, no-one is immune to this risk.”
Baker said every company now uses technology in some form, with core functions such as quotes, payments, payroll and communication with suppliers and customers carried out online. All of that information, he warned, could be valuable to a cyber-criminal.
He urged owners to tackle the threat head on. While the risk can never be eliminated entirely, he said a few simple, cost-effective measures can help reduce it:
- Practise good cyber hygiene
- Switch on two-factor authentication for crucial applications
- Keep software up to date
- Educate employees about the risks
- Make sure cover is in place should the worst happen
NFU Mutual’s research was conducted by OnePoll: 500 small business owners were surveyed in October 2026, 600 retail decision-makers in March 2026 and 500 tradespeople in January 2026. The 612,000 figure is from the government’s Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2025/2026, published on 30 April 2026.
