Cyber security has long been framed as a technical discipline – the domain of IT teams, compliance officers, and CISOs. That framing is no longer sufficient. Today, cyber resilience is not just about preventing attacks; it is a critical determinant of customer trust, brand equity, and long-term commercial viability.
New research from the Retail Technology Show shows that 36% of UK consumers were contacted by a retailer in the past 12 months to warn their data had been compromised. Among Gen Z, that rises to 53%. One in three consumers were told their personal information had been stolen, and nearly a third experienced password breaches.
Cybercrime is no longer abstract risk. It is lived experience. For leadership teams, the question is no longer whether attacks will occur, it is whether the organisation can prove it can respond effectively and maintain trust when they do.
At the same time, UK Government figures estimate cybercrime costs British businesses £14.7 billion annually. Significant incidents cost an average of £195,000, and half of small businesses report suffering a breach or attack in the past year. The National Cyber Security Centre now handles multiple major incidents every week.
The scale and frequency of attacks are reshaping expectations, not just inside organisations, but among customers. Increasingly, consumers view cyberattacks as a matter of “if, not when.” For leadership teams, that shift fundamentally changes the nature of accountability.
Trust Is No Longer Binary
Recent incidents at major brands have reinforced how pervasive the threat has become. Marks & Spencer was forced to suspend online trading for months following a cyberattack. Co-op disclosed that data from 6.5 million members had been stolen. Recent allegations, highlighted by The Register, of data theft at CarGurus and investigations into third-party compromise at Adidas show that no sector — retail, automotive, manufacturing, or digital commerce — is insulated.
Yet the most significant insight from the Retail Technology Show research is not simply that trust erodes after a breach. It is that trust is conditional, not binary. While 44% of shoppers say cyber incidents damage their trust, two-thirds indicate they would remain loyal if the organisation responds quickly and communicates openly. Consumers are not demanding perfection; they are demanding competence and integrity under pressure.
Cyber resilience, therefore, is not just about preventing incidents. It is about proving preparedness, demonstrating leadership, and responding transparently when disruption occurs. For executive teams, this elevates incident response, governance, and communication from operational concerns to strategic imperatives.
The £14.7bn Warning Sign
The Government’s recent campaign encouraging businesses to adopt Cyber Essentials reflects the widening gap between threat levels and defensive maturity. Developed by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and the National Cyber Security Centre, the initiative targets small and medium-sized enterprises, many of which still underestimate their exposure.
The data suggests that assumption is misplaced. Eighty-two percent of medium and large businesses experienced a cyber incident in the past year, and around half of small firms report a breach or attack. Many incidents exploit basic weaknesses: unpatched software, poor access controls, insufficient authentication, and limited staff awareness.
Encouragingly, organisations certified under Cyber Essentials made 92% fewer insurance claims, highlighting that even baseline protections materially reduce risk. But beyond risk reduction lies a broader issue. In an interconnected economy, supplier vulnerabilities quickly become enterprise vulnerabilities. Third-party compromise, as recent brand cases show, can create reputational damage regardless of where the technical failure occurred. From a customer’s perspective, the distinction between a brand and its partner is irrelevant, trust travels across the ecosystem.
From Technical Controls to Strategic Signalling
Cyber Essentials focuses on five foundational protections: firewalls, secure configuration, software updates, user access control, and malware protection. These are basic hygiene, not advanced defences. Yet even baseline controls now serve a dual purpose: they reduce exposure and signal seriousness.
Certification, formal governance frameworks, and clearly articulated security policies communicate that cyber risk is treated as enterprise risk. They demonstrate that responsibility sits at board level, not solely within IT. As attack techniques evolve, from AI-driven phishing to automated credential theft, it becomes increasingly unrealistic to assume any organisation can eliminate all incidents. The differentiator is maturity: the ability to detect early, respond decisively, communicate clearly, and recover swiftly. That maturity is visible to customers, regulators, insurers, and partners alike.
The Leadership Question
There is a behavioural tension worth acknowledging. Consumers expect organisations to invest heavily in cyber protection, yet many continue to reuse passwords or overlook basic digital hygiene. Responsibility is shared, but expectation rests firmly with the brand.
This places leadership teams in a defining position. Cyber security can no longer be treated as a cost centre or compliance checkbox. It must be embedded within enterprise risk management, overseen at board level, and integrated into brand strategy. Executives should ask whether cyber risk is afforded the same scrutiny as financial or operational risk, whether supplier controls are audited with sufficient rigour, whether incident response plans are rehearsed, and whether security posture is communicated as part of the organisation’s broader commitment to integrity. In an era of breach normalisation, these questions shape competitive positioning.
Cyber Resilience as Brand Equity
The £14.7 billion annual cost of cybercrime is not merely an economic statistic. It represents lost productivity, diverted investment, and, in some cases, existential risk. For some firms, a single significant attack can threaten continuity. For larger enterprises, repeated incidents can quietly erode customer confidence and market differentiation.
In a marketplace where consumers increasingly assume breaches are inevitable, the organisations that distinguish themselves will not necessarily be those that avoid every incident. They will be those that can demonstrate preparedness, accountability, and transparency.
Cyber resilience is no longer optional but it does not need to be overwhelming.
vXtream supports senior leaders in assessing risk, strengthening controls, and building demonstrable trust across their digital estate and supply chain. If you want clarity on your current exposure and a practical roadmap to stronger resilience, start the conversation with vXtream today.
Image from ‘Cyber Resilience’, a campaign video created by M&C Saatchi Group UK for NCSC
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Found this of interest? You may like our previous article: Cybercrime at the Turn of 2026: The Question Now Is – Who’s Next?
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