Artificial intelligence is increasingly shaping the cyber risk landscape, with UK businesses reporting growing concern over AI-driven attacks such as deepfakes.

Databarracks’ Data Health Check 2025 surveyed 500 IT decision-makers across the UK and found that AI-enabled attacks are now regarded as the biggest cyber threat organisations face, as well as the top resilience challenge for the next five years.

Respondents said that deepfakes – synthetic audio, video or imagery generated by AI – are powering a new wave of impersonation attempts with implications for fraud, trust and crisis response. The survey also indicated that cyber attacks continue to be the leading cause of data loss and downtime, with the highest rate of attacks recorded since the study began.

Chris Butler, resilience director at Databarracks, said: “When we're working with organisations to run cyber exercises, deepfakes are now front of mind. They’re an emerging threat that most organisations still don’t feel equipped to handle. Exercises are often the first time teams seriously consider how they’d respond – and that’s where the gaps start to show."

The report highlights conflicting attitudes towards AI more broadly. While businesses are increasingly wary of its misuse by attackers, many still view AI as a tool that can strengthen security, provided organisations adapt their defences as quickly as criminals adapt their methods.

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