Cyber attack fears soar in UK manufacturing and retail, but action plans lag behind
Published: 12.11.2026 | Editor: David Jinks
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Since autumn 2024, the share of UK manufacturers worried that cyber attacks will hit their supply chains has risen almost sixfold, and wholesalers and retailers are more than five times as worried, reveals Parcelhero. With AI concern rising too, and M&S, the Co-op, Jaguar Land Rover and Europe’s supermarket fridge hacks as warnings, half of retailers and over half of transport and storage firms still have no resilience action planned.
New ONS figures show a sharp rise in the number of UK businesses worried that cyber attacks will disrupt their supply chains. The home delivery expert Parcelhero says manufacturers and retail firms in particular are concerned.
David Jinks M.I.L.T., Head of Consumer Research at Parcelhero, says: ‘Cyber attacks used to be seen as an IT department problem. The latest ONS Business Insights and Conditions survey shows manufacturers and retailers now see them as a threat to the supply chain itself. Among manufacturers, 18.5% now cite cyber attacks as a supply chain concern over the next 12 months, up from just 3.2% in September 2024. In wholesale & retail it’s 13.1%, up from 2.4%, and across all UK businesses it has risen from 4% to 13.3%.
‘AI is following the same path from a low base. In manufacturing, concern is up from 1.4% to 7.5%, in retail from 3.6% to 8.9%, and across all businesses from 2.9% to 10.1%.”
‘The rise follows a series of attacks on household names. M&S and the Co-op were hit in April 2025. M&S suspended online orders for more than six weeks, and the Co-op said attackers took the records of all 6.5 million of its members. The Cyber Monitoring Centre (CMC) estimated the combined cost at £270m to £440m. In August 2025 a cyber attack halted production at Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) and spread through around 5,000 businesses in its supply chain. The CMC put the cost to the UK economy at about £1.9bn, potentially the most economically damaging cyber event ever to hit the UK.
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‘You can see it in the data. Manufacturers’ concern about cyber attacks was 3.9% in March 2025, before M&S and the Co-op were hit, and had reached 15.1% by September, the month after JLR. In retail it rose from 5.9% to 11.7% over the same period.
‘This autumn, attackers have turned to physical infrastructure. On 11 October, refrigeration controllers at hundreds of French supermarkets, including Intermarché, Coopérative U and Carrefour stores, were reportedly set to defrost overnight. Units overheated, food was spoiled and fires broke out in some stores. On 2 November a second wave hit more than 100 shops in Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Sweden, Ireland and Estonia, including stores run by Ahold Delhaize, Colruyt, ICA and Musgrave’s SuperValu. The ONS survey closed on 1 November, the day before the second wave, so those incidents are not reflected in the figures.
‘The fridge hacks show attackers no longer need to steal data to cause chaos. They can simply turn up the heat on the equipment that keeps stock fresh. Any warehouse, depot or store running internet-connected systems should take note. No group had been publicly identified as responsible at the time of writing, although France has publicly named Iran as being behind the attacks.
‘The transport & storage sector is the exception, and that is particularly concerning. Only 5.9% of firms in the sector cite cyber attacks and 1.8% cite AI, and 44.8% say they have no concerns about factors affecting supply chains, the highest share of the three sectors. It’s striking that they are the least worried when they run the systems that keep goods moving. Their customers are looking further up the chain than many carriers are.
‘Concern is running ahead of action for all sectors, however. In manufacturing, 38.7% plan no action to improve supply chain resilience. The most common plans are improving relationships with key suppliers at 24.1%, diversifying suppliers across more countries at 13.4%, which is roughly double the 6.8% who did so in the past year, and stockpiling or surge capacity at 12.7%.
‘In retail, 50% of firms plan no action. Of those planning action, the leading plans are improving supplier relationships at 15.2%, stockpiling or surge capacity at 9.3% and demand management at 8%. Planned action is currently below the spring peak, when 20.9% planned to improve supplier relationships. In transport & storage, 56.5% plan no action and a further 33.5% are unsure. Only 6.4% plan to improve supplier relationships and 5.8% to increase awareness of their supply chains.
‘With AI adding a new layer of risk, firms should be turning that concern into concrete resilience plans. Of course, AI also presents a massive opportunity for business, one that has been embraced by all sectors involved in the supply chain. From AI-piloted ships to self-healing warehouses, our new report, ‘Putting the AI into Supply ChAIns’, shows how AI is becoming the backbone of global supply chains, and what it means for businesses racing to keep up. Read the full report.
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Parcelhero’s Head of Consumer Research, David Jinks M.I.L.T., is available to supply exclusive written comment or for interview. David is available at media@parcelhero.com.
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