How it works?

About digital risk calculator

Gowling WLG teamed up with Professor of Data Science, Fionn Murtagh, of the University of Derby and Goldsmiths University of London to find out which digital threats SMEs are aware of. We surveyed 999 business leaders across 19 industries in the UK, Germany and France, and have carried out comparison analysis to derive an average risk level.

The methodology

The original survey contained more than 30 questions and covered 11 categories of digital risks. We collated individual survey respondent data into the four following dimensions for analysis purposes.

  1. Digital risks
  2. Countries of the respondent
  3. Industry sectors
  4. Business size

For each possible configuration of country, business sector and business size, the five risk areas that have the most "very high risk" outcomes are listed. To grade the overall risk, the relative percentages of "very high risk" respondent answers are added to form the overall score of each configuration of country, business sector and respondent answers. This provides a risk level on a 0 to 100 scale.

The data from the Gowling WLG Digital Risk Calculator Survey was analysed by Professor Fionn Murtagh - Professor of Data Science, University of Derby, and Goldsmiths University of London. Professor Fionn Murtagh’s degrees in Mathematics, Engineering, Computer Science, and Mathematical Statistics are from Dublin and Paris. He served for 12 years with the European Space Agency, based at the European Southern Observatory in Garching bei München.

Legal disclaimer

The information contained in this site is for general guidance on matters of interest only. The Digital Risk Calculator is not a risk diagnostic tool. It is designed for small and medium sized businesses and is intended to highlight perceived digital risks. The results should not be used as a substitute for consultation with professional legal advisers. If you are at risk or concerned about digital risk, we advise visiting a legal professional before making any decision or taking any action.

As technology advances and businesses increasingly look to adopt digital processes, the associated threats also continue to rise. Our research shows that external cyber risks, customer security and identity theft are big concerns for all businesses, wherever they are based. However, despite awareness of these data risks, our research has shown that many businesses remain unprepared.

Use our Digital Risk Calculator to find out more about your perceived digital risks.

Based on data from March 2017