Household names like car maker Jaguar Land Rover, where production has ground to a halt, and Marks and Spencer, which has suffered losses of £300m, have been victims of the devastating data breaches in recent months.

But while the UK’s largest businesses continue to make the headlines, small firms – which may think they have nothing to fear – are not immune to attacks.

Jaguar Land Rover has extended the production shutdown at its factories after a cyber attack at the end of August(Image: Jaguar Land Rover /PA Wire)

Small and medium-sized businesses, which have limited budgets for cybersecurity, are even more vulnerable - with UK employers losing £3.4bn a year to breaches.

Caspar Stops, who heads up Aviva's cyber insurance team, said the number of cyber attacks on UK companies is up year-on-year, with hackers now targeting smaller firms they view as "the lowest hanging fruit" as well as Britain's biggest businesses.

"The people behind these attacks don't care whether you are a large, medium or small business - they are only interested in what they can gain from you," he warned.

Caspar Stops, Aviva's market cyber underwriting manager(Image: Aviva)

"99pc of businesses in the UK are SMEs. Our portfolio at Aviva mirrors that, with 99pc of our customers being small businesses.

"We are observing attack patterns........

© Norwich Evening News