Technological advances have brought great convenience — we store our memories in the cloud, manage our finances from the tips of our fingers, and use our smart devices to control everything from home security to music playlists. But with convenience comes risk, and in the UK, cybercrime is quietly creeping into everyday life. From AI-powered scams to phishing emails, today’s digital threats are becoming harder to detect and easier to fall for.
Per our latest survey, a surprising number of residents from across the UK and Ireland admit to rarely changing their passwords, using strong passwords, or skipping backups. The more data we share, the more doors we leave open for cybercriminals to walk through.
At Secure Data Recovery, we wanted to uncover which regions of the UK and Ireland are most digitally vulnerable. We surveyed nearly 2,000 individuals and rated England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Ireland on a variety of metrics, including data backup habits, antivirus usage, password security, unsecured WiFi access, and more. These metrics were combined into a digital vulnerability score that then ranked each country accordingly. Read on to find out how your region stacks up — and whether your data habits are putting you at risk.
Key takeaways
How British countries rank for digital vulnerability
We took 13 questions in our survey and combined them into a singular digital vulnerability score. These questions asked respondents about their digital habits, from password usage to storage routines and more.
Among the five countries across the United Kingdom and Ireland, Wales ranks as the most digitally secure. Helping its top ranking: Of Welsh respondents, 58% use unique passwords for each digital account, and 72% said they’ve installed antivirus software that regularly checks for viruses.
On the other end, Northern Ireland is by far the most digitally vulnerable country. Just 35% of the country backs up data regularly, 41% admitted to sharing passwords, and 27% said their personal information (such as phone numbers or email addresses) are posted somewhere on social media.
Cyber threats Britons are most worried about
Across the board, respondents are most worried about cyber threats like identity theft, data breaches, and AI-powered scams. Locally, English, Welsh, and Northern Irish respondents are most concerned about identity theft, while Scottish and Irish respondents say they're most concerned about data breaches. Irish respondents are most concerned about AI-powered scams, with 61% saying they are worried about them.
When looking at generations, baby boomers are the most worried about AI-powered scams (64% say they are), while Gen Zers are the most worried about deepfakes (63% responded that they are concerned about deepfakes or digital impersonation).
Deepfake scams are already draining British consumers of millions of pounds, according to a recent study. These particularly come in the form of fraudulent phone calls by scammers using deepfaked voices, with the average successful scam costing victims an average of £595.
Cybersecurity trends in the UK
Moving on to general trends, 59% of respondents say they regularly check the security of a website (such as if it contains “https” in the URL) before entering personal information. Meanwhile, most — 64% — only change their passwords for important accounts rarely or only when required.
By gender, men are more likely to use auto-generated passwords than women (28% versus 19%). Additionally, one quarter of men say their phone number, email address, or home address exists on social media. That's more than the 18% of women who say the same. Another way women stay safe digitally: They are more likely than men to check each and every permission after downloading a new app (71% to 61%).
When looking at data after sectoring by generation, 71% of Gen Z respondents said they back data up in the cloud — five percentage points higher than any other generation. Gen X is the most dubious of suspicious ads, links, or email attachments in the past year — 78% say they've never clicked on such things in the past year. And finally, a quarter of millennials use auto-generated passwords, more than any other generation.
We’re there to help protect your digital life
We lock our doors, shred sensitive documents, and take out insurance just in case — but when it comes to digital protection, many in the UK are still leaving the door wide open. From rarely changing passwords to ignoring cloud backups, digital habits across the region vary, but vulnerabilities are everywhere and leave plenty of openings for cyber threats.
Cyber threats come in all shapes and sizes, but some are as simple as a coffee spill, a dropped phone, or an old hard drive finally giving out. When a device unfortunately fails, it takes everything with it, from precious photos to essential work documents. And once data is gone, many assume it’s for good.
That’s where we come in. At Secure Data Recovery, our experts are trained to handle every kind of digital emergency, from smartphone crashes to complex RAID array failures. No matter how your data went missing, we’ll give it the best possible chance of coming back — safely, securely, and quickly.
Methodology
In March 2025, we surveyed 1,910 residents of the UK and Ireland on their digital habits. We asked a range of questions, including data backup habits, antivirus usage, password security, unsecured WiFi access, and more. Their responses were then distilled into a singular score to rank the five countries involved in the survey by digital vulnerability.
