Two thirds of bosses in Britain's biggest businesses are not trained to deal with cyber attack, a government report revealed on Monday.
The British Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) said the country's top firms and charities urgently need to do more to protect themselves from online threats, Xinhua news agency reported.
The plea has been issued on the basis of government research and a "cyber health check" report that highlighted the scale of the cyber security and data protection challenge.
It showed one in 10 FTSE 350 companies operate without a response plan for a cyber incident and that just six per cent businesses are prepared for new data protection rules.
Separate new research found charities are as susceptible to attacks as businesses.
A survey undertaken in the wake of recent high-profile cyber attacks found 68 per cent boards of directors at 350 of Britain's biggest companies had not received training to deal with a cyber incident, despite 54 per cent saying cyber threats were a top risk to their business.
One in 10 FTSE 350 companies said they operated without a response plan for a cyber incident, while less than a third of boards received comprehensive cyber risk information.
British Minister of State Matt Hancock said: "We have world leading businesses and a thriving charity sector but recent cyber attacks have shown the devastating effects of not getting our approach to cyber security right.
"These reports show we have a long way to go until all our organisations are adopting best practice, and I urge all senior executives to work with the National Cyber Security Centre and take up the government's advice and training."
Hancock said there had been progress in some areas when compared with a health check last year, with more than half of company boards now setting out their approach to cyber risks (53 per cent up from 33 per cent).
More than half of businesses now have a clear understanding of the impact of a cyber attack (57 per cent, up from 49 per cent).
--IANS
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