- Decade-old vulnerabilities still drive millions of attacks across UK networks
- Hackers prefer easy targets left open by outdated, unpatched systems
- AI-driven scans expose weak networks at unprecedented speed and scale
Across the United Kingdom, thousands of organisations continue operating computer systems with security holes that were first identified over ten years ago.
Cybercriminals are taking full advantage of this negligence, launching relentless waves of attacks against these unprotected entry points.
SonicWall’s 2025 UK cyber threat data claims a single vulnerability in widely deployed Hikvision IP cameras accounted for 67 million attack attempts nationwide, about 20% of all major intrusions detected across British networks during the entire year.
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Attackers exploit what organisations already know but ignore
“Meanwhile, Zombie Tech continues to haunt UK networks,” said Spencer Starkey, Executive Vice President for EMEA at SonicWall.
“We’re seeing millions of attacks tied to a single long-known vulnerability, alongside continued exploitation of issues first disclosed more than a decade ago.”
Attackers do not need sophisticated zero-day exploits when organisations leave decade-old doors wide open.
The Hikvision camera vulnerability is not new, but it remains effective because too many networks have not been patched.
Interestingly, about 80% of IT leaders claim that they can spot a breach within eight hours of it occurring – however, evidence shows that intrusions typically go unnoticed for 181 days on average.
This gap is critical because intrusions often go unnoticed when teams assume systems are secure.
Generally, ransomware volume in the UK fell by 87% during 2025, but that seemingly positive statistic hides a darker trend.
The number of organisations successfully compromised actually rose by 20%, meaning attackers are hitting fewer targets but causing more damage per successful breach.
“On the surface, the 87% drop might look like progress, but the reality is more alarming,” Starkey said. “More organisations are being successfully hit, and attackers are doing it with far greater precision.”
Smaller organisations are disproportionately affected, with ransomware present in 88% of SMB breaches compared to just 39% at large enterprises.
The geographic concentration of these attacks is stark, with England experiencing nearly all of the UK’s ransomware incidents.
London and the South East account for the vast majority of successful hits, reflecting where the most valuable targets are located.
The growing number of AI tools is a problem, as bots are now generating 36,000 scans per second across UK networks, causing AI-enabled attacks to increase by 89% in 2025.
Cybercriminals now combine automation with precision targeting, making it easier for them to find and exploit outdated systems at scale.
What organisations need to do about the zombie tech problem
To tackle this issue, organisations should start by conducting an immediate inventory of all connected devices that may have been installed years ago and then forgotten.
Every device in that inventory must be checked against known vulnerability databases, with priority given to patching any issue that has public exploit code available.
Any device that cannot be patched should be replaced with modern alternatives that receive regular security updates.
Network segmentation should also be implemented to isolate legacy devices so they cannot be used as entry points to more critical systems.
Firewalls must be tested regularly to ensure they are actually blocking the traffic patterns associated with known vulnerabilities, rather than merely logging them.
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