The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) said it tackled a record number of cyber incidents in the UK over the last year, with ransomware attacks originating from Russia dominating its activities.
The cybersecurity agency said it had helped deal with a 7.5% increase in cases in the year to August, fuelled by the surge of criminal hackers seizing control of corporate data and demanding payment in cryptocurrency for its return.
Criminal hackers, based in Russia or in nearby Russian speaking territories, successfully targeted organisations such as the London borough of Hackney and the celebrity jeweller Graff in the UK in the past year.
In May, in the US, oil and gas supplier Colonial Pipeline suspended operations after a ransomware attack left it unable to access key data. It eventually paid $5m (?3.7m) to the hackers to regain control of its systems.
British ministers and officials have considered banning cyber ransom payments, but it is understood that is unlikely to be implemented, partly because of concern it would discourage businesses from reporting attacks.
Many companies are able to claim on their cyber insurance, although once hackers have access to a corporate system they can seek the insurance policy to work out how much the company is able to pay.
