British businesses have lost an estimated £44 billion ($55.08 billion) in revenue over the past five years due to cyberattacks, with more than half (52%) of private-sector companies reporting at least one incident, according to insurance broker firm Howden.

The most common attack methods were email compromises (20%) and data theft (18%), with larger companies earning over £100 million annually particularly vulnerable.

On average, cyberattacks resulted in a 1.9% revenue loss for businesses, as reported by Reuters.

However, despite the growing threat, only 61% of companies use anti-virus software, and just 55% have network firewalls in place. Cost and insufficient IT resources are cited as key obstacles to improving cybersecurity, as per the report.

"Cybercrime is escalating as businesses become increasingly dependent on technology," said Sarah Neild, head of UK Cyber Retail at Howden, to Reuters.

The findings were based on a survey of 905 IT decision-makers by YouGov, a British internet-based market research firm.