The focus on smaller businesses has been marked in the first nine months of the year, as 48 per cent of attacks detected relate to organisations with under 250 employees. By contrast, manufacturers in defence and engineering were the top target in 2012, according to CRN.

Easiest point of entry

In its Threat Report, Symantec comments: 'Much of this could be related to supply chain attacks, where attackers look for the easiest point of entry and work their way up the chain.'