Major Cyber Attacks of 2025 in the UK & Ireland

17 Dec 2025

A Comprehensive Review and What Business Leaders Must Learn

2025 has become a defining year for cyber security across the UK and Ireland, after 2024’s raft of attacks on healthcare, retail became the main focus for cyber criminals in 2025! 

The sheer scale and sophistication of attacks this year have demonstrated that cyber threats now represent material business risk. High street retailers, global manufacturers and national supply chains have all been disrupted. Even well resourced organisations with credible cyber maturity have been caught off guard by the speed and precision of modern threat actors.

This article provides a comprehensive overview of the most significant cyber incidents affecting the UK and Ireland in 2025, summarising what happened, who was targeted and the impact on operations and financial performance. More importantly, it translates these developments into clear guidance for business leaders who recognise that cyber resilience is now a strategic capability.

 

Marks and Spencer

Retail Operations Brought to a Standstill

In April 2025, Marks and Spencer suspended online orders across the UK and Ireland following a significant cyber incident. Ecommerce, contactless payments and click and collect services were forced offline. The attackers gained access through a third party supplier compromise and used impersonation tactics to escalate their position inside the organisation.

This event had a direct impact on customer experience and revenue. The company reported that more than £300 million pounds of operating profit was wiped out. The incident reinforced a hard lesson for the retail sector. When a key digital platform goes down, the commercial consequences are immediate and severe.

 

The Co operative Group

A Critical Service Disruption Across the Business

Shortly after the Marks and Spencer incident, the Co operative Group confirmed that it too had suffered a cyber intrusion. As a precaution, the business shut down back office systems and parts of its call centre infrastructure. Although stores and online shopping continued, the disruption placed significant operational strain on the organisation.

The financial impact was substantial. The Co operative Group reported a £206 million pound reduction in revenue during the first half of 2025, resulting in an underlying pre tax loss. This was another example of attackers using social engineering techniques to trick IT support personnel into resetting account credentials. It exposed persistent weaknesses in identity and access management across the retail sector.

 

Harrods

An Attempted Intrusion on a High End Retail Icon

Harrods disclosed in 2025 that it had been targeted by a cyber incident linked to the broader wave of attacks affecting major UK retailers. Although the organisation remained open for trade, with stores and ecommerce operating normally, the intrusion triggered immediate internal investigation and a hardening of system access.

This incident highlighted that even premium brands with strong security investment remain vulnerable when threat actors target whole sectors in coordinated campaigns. Harrods was fortunate to contain the incident early, but the event demonstrated a broader theme. Attackers are moving laterally across retail and not simply focusing on a single brand.

 

Jaguar Land Rover

A Nationally Significant Manufacturing Disruption

The most disruptive cyber incident of 2025 occurred at Jaguar Land Rover. On 31 August 2025, the company was forced to shut down its global IT systems, bringing production at multiple UK factories to a complete halt. The shutdown affected plants in Solihull, Merseyside and Wolverhampton, and caused a multi week suspension of manufacturing output.

Threat actors claiming responsibility were linked to the same cluster of groups involved in the retail attacks earlier in the year. Some industry analysis suggested possible state supported involvement, but no formal public attribution has been confirmed.

The economic fallout was substantial. Analysts estimate that the wider impact on the UK economy reached approximately £1.9 Billion pounds. Tens of thousands of vehicles were not produced. Hundreds of suppliers in the automotive supply chain faced operational disruption and cash flow challenges. The incident demonstrated how a single breach inside a large manufacturer can cascade across an entire national supply chain.

 

Wider Attack Activity Across the UK and Ireland

A Sharp Rise in Significant Incidents

The National Cyber Security Centre reported that the UK has been experiencing an average of four nationally significant cyber incidents per week through 2025. This includes attacks affecting healthcare, logistics, software vendors, managed service providers and public sector bodies. Many events were prevented or contained before becoming publicly visible, but the volume indicates a material shift in attacker activity and capability.

Across Ireland, the situation mirrors the UK. Research in 2025 reported that almost ninety percent of Irish organisations experienced either disruption or financial loss due to cyber activity in recent years. Analysis also revealed more than 349,000 Irish based networks with known vulnerabilities, including critical infrastructure, hosting providers and public facing systems. These conditions create an attractive environment for organised cybercrime and opportunistic attackers.

 

What 2025 Tought Us

Strategic Lessons for Every Business

The incidents of 2025 are not isolated. They form a pattern. The same attacker groups used similar social engineering methods, exploited help desk processes and targeted organisations with high dependency on digital operations. Five strategic themes stand out.

 

The retail and manufacturing sectors are high value targets

Attackers know that downtime in these sectors rapidly converts into financial loss. They are selecting targets that cannot afford to be offline.

 

Social engineering is the preferred entry point

The most advanced firewalls and monitoring tools cannot compensate for weak identity processes. Attacker groups repeatedly bypassed controls by manipulating staff members rather than breaking through technical barriers.

 

Supply chain fragility amplifies risk

The Jaguar Land Rover incident proved that a cyber event within one organisation can cascade across thousands of suppliers. Cyber security is now an operational resilience issue, not just a data protection exercise.

 

The financial impact now comes from operational disruption

Loss of production, service downtime, customer churn and reputational damage outweigh traditional cost of breach models. Cyber incidents now hit the top line and bottom line directly.

 

Threat actors are coordinating their campaigns

Multiple 2025 incidents appear connected. Attackers are moving from one organisation to another within the same sector, indicating structured operations rather than opportunistic behaviour.

 

What Organisations Should Do Next

The events of 2025 demonstrate that cyber resilience requires a proactive and integrated approach. Businesses should take the following steps.

• Implement a genuine zero trust architecture with strong identity controls and continuous monitoring
• Harden IT help desk processes which are now a primary target for attackers
• Strengthen supplier and vendor assurance through contractual security requirements and ongoing assessments
• Develop and test incident response and business continuity plans that account for prolonged IT outages
• Mandate executive level cyber awareness to ensure risk decisions are understood and governed at board level
• Invest in managed detection, rapid response and real time threat visibility

 

Its only mid-December now and the Christmas period is a huge time also with highly elevated volumes of cyber attacks taking place, be proactive!

At LoughTec, we support organisations across the UK and Ireland in building resilience against the type of attacks that defined 2025. The businesses that adapt early will not only protect their operations, but also gain competitive advantage through reliability, stability and customer confidence. 

For more information, contact us!

 

 

Back Top