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The report, conducted by the Corporate IT Forum, surveyed 3,500 businesses and found 69% had seen an increase in cybercrimes in the last year committed against them, including denial of service and website hacking.

The report claims businesses have lost confidence in the Government to handle the problem with only 4% saying they bother reporting every cybercrime, and 57% saying they don't believe incidents they did report would be handled properly by police.

"IT chiefs in UK PLCs don't think the government appreciates the scale of the cyber crime threat, the seriousness of the threat or how much it's costing," says David Roberts, head of the Corporate IT Forum.

"Business confidence in the government's ability to help them fight cyber crime is at rock-bottom," he adds.

The survey also reveals that spending on fighting cybercrime has dramatically increased, with 68% of companies now forced to spend up to 40% of their security budgets protecting themselves.