Nearly a third of all cases handled by Pinsent Masons’ cyber team last year involved businesses operating in the technology sector, a new report has revealed.
Launched locally to coincide with CyberNI Week 2025, the findings of the 36-page paper were discussed during a breakfast briefing in the commercial law firm’s Soloist office in Belfast’s Lanyon Place today (Wednesday), with representatives from the financial and energy industries, and transport and housing sectors, among those who attended.
Hosted by Laura Gillespie – a partner at Pinsent Masons who specialises in cyber and privacy – the event highlighted that cyber readiness programmes remain crucial.
Technology clients comprised 28% of all cases that were investigated by the firm’s cyber team, followed by finance – the sector that was singled out most by criminals the previous year – and accounted for 12% of the total, the same proportion as transport and healthcare.
Nearly half of all incident-type cases (48%) handled by the cyber team in Belfast and the rest of Great Britian in 2024 involved the use of ransomware. This is a common technique that uses malware to access sensitive information or personal data before encrypting it.
In a quarter of all incidents, cash demands were made by the threat actor group, with the single largest ransom demand in 2024 totalling $70million (£55m) from BlackCat group. However, this was successfully negotiated down to $2.5million (£2m) by the cyber team.
Speaking during the launch of the sixth annual Cyber Report, Laura said: “What our annual report confirms is that criminals do not discriminate by country, business size, or business type.
“That is why – whatever sector an organisation happens to operate in – it must always be on its guard, and never become complacent with matters concerning cyber security.
“On-going investment in cyber defences has never been more important to help prevent, or minimise, the risk of ransomware-style attacks suffered by businesses,” added Laura.
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Some breaches were seasonally led, the report has found, with ‘credential stuffing’ attacks on retail clients spiking during the Autumn period as Christmas approached.
This is a practice that works by initially fraudulently gaining valid login and password combinations for one site before using these to access legitimate accounts on other sites. Meanwhile, the total volume of successful phishing e-mail attacks reported in 2023 (19%) compared to 2024 (16%) was largely unchanged.
Laura added: “Against the backdrop of today’s digital landscape, every business needs to prioritise cybersecurity because it acts as the first line of defence against ransomware and phishing attacks.
“Ensuring staff training and awareness remains a key part of cyber awareness programmes is crucial. Protecting sensitive data and maintaining trust with customers and staff should not be an afterthought; it is essential for survival in an evolving online world.”
Pinsent Masons currently has a 23-strong Cyber team operating in the UK supported by colleagues from across its global network. For more information, visit the Technology and Digital Markets of the company’s website where in-depth analysis and expert opinion can be found.