Why Cyber Security matters for Funeral Directors in 2026

What the Latest Government Cyber Security Survey Reveals

At SEIB Insurance Brokers, we understand the importance of protecting funeral businesses against evolving risks. Alongside arranging specialist Funeral Directors Insurance and Cyber Insurance solutions, we are seeing cyber security become a critical consideration for businesses across the funeral sector.

In 2025, high-profile cyber attacks have highlighted how businesses of all sizes can be affected. In our article, 2025 UK Cyber Attacks: What Funeral Directors Can Learn From the Year’s Biggest Breaches, we explored some of the lessons funeral directors can take from recent incidents.

From handling sensitive personal information to processing payments and maintaining trusted client relationships, funeral directors hold valuable data that cyber criminals actively target.

The latest UK Government Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2025/2026 highlights that cyber threats remain widespread across UK businesses, with attack levels unchanged from last year.

43% of businesses experienced a cyber breach or attack

According to the survey, 43% of UK businesses identified a cyber security breach or attack in the last 12 months, the same proportion reported in the previous 2024/2025 survey.

This equates to approximately 612,000 UK businesses identifying a cyber breach or attack during the previous 12 months.

For funeral directors, the findings highlight how widespread cyber threats continue to be across UK businesses, particularly for businesses handling sensitive personal information and online payments.

Phishing remains the most common threat

Phishing attacks continue to be the most common form of cyber incident facing UK businesses.

This year’s survey found that 38% of businesses experienced phishing attempts, which remains unchanged from last year.

Phishing emails are becoming increasingly convincing and can appear to come from:

• Suppliers
• Banks
• Colleagues
• Clients
• Industry contacts

For funeral directors managing sensitive communications, fraudulent emails requesting payments or login details can be particularly difficult to spot.

Smaller businesses are falling behind in cyber preparedness

One of the key findings from the recent survey is that smaller businesses are reporting lower levels of cyber preparedness compared to last year.

Among small businesses:

• Formal cyber security policies fell from 59% to 52%
• Cyber continuity plans dropped from 53% to 44%
• Cyber risk assessments declined from 48% to 41%

This reflects the challenge many smaller firms face in balancing day-to-day operations with cyber security responsibilities.

For funeral directors, where reputation and trust are central to the business, even a small cyber incident can cause significant disruption.

Cyber Insurance continues to grow in importance

The survey also highlights increasing awareness around cyber insurance and cyber resilience.

Overall, 47% of businesses now report having some form of Cyber Insurance cover in place, either through standalone cyber insurance or cover included within wider business insurance policies.

As cyber attacks continue to affect businesses of all sizes, many funeral directors are reviewing whether their insurance arrangements adequately protect against:

• Data breaches
• Ransomware attacks
• Business interruption
• Recovery costs
• Legal expenses
• Reputational damage support

Protecting funeral businesses against evolving risks

Even with good cybersecurity in place, no business is completely protected from attack. Funeral directors handle highly sensitive personal and financial information, meaning a cyber incident can have serious operational, financial and reputational consequences.

Cyber Insurance can provide specialist support to help investigate an incident, recover systems and manage disruption, helping your business continue operating while protecting the trust of the families you support.

Understanding cyber risk is the first step to reducing it. To help funeral directors better understand today’s digital threats and how to protect against them, we have created a free, practical guide, “Cyber Insurance and Fraud Protection for Funeral Directors”.

The guide covers:

• The most common cyber threats facing funeral businesses
• How fraud and social engineering attacks typically occur
• Practical steps to reduce risk within your business
• How cyber insurance can support you before, during and after an incident

About SEIB Insurance Brokers

SEIB have been providing Funeral Director Insurance and Funeral Car Insurance for over 40 years. If you’d like further guidance or have questions about your insurance cover, call 01708 850000 or email info@seib.co.uk.