Cyber has been a hot button for some time in the insurance industry. I have talked about it several times via this blog as well. It is easy to become a little desensitized to the entire topic and adopt a laissez-faire attitude … but the reality is …
These attacks are not going away. In fact, they are increasing at an alarming rate.
I just saw an article that stated these types of attacks are up 700% in the UK. It would naturally follow that here in the US, they have increased at a similar staggering rate.
Lloyd’s of London recently published a report about titled, “Closing the Gap – Insuring your Business Against Evolving Cyber Threats” … the key findings are:
- There has been a major growth in targeting companies through CEO fraud, which is resulting in significant financial losses.
- The financial services sector finds itself at the sharp end of targeted attacks by organized cyber-crime but retail is increasingly being targeted.
- Professional services firms such as lawyers and accountants are increasingly targeted as a gateway to attacks on their clients, which are often large corporates.
- Ransomware and distributed denial-of-service attacks are increasingly used against businesses with healthcare, and media and entertainment particularly targeted.
- The public sector and telecommunications sectors are highly susceptible to espionage-focused cyber-attacks.
Businesses need to be aware of the full costs of a cyber-attack, in particular, the “slow-burn” costs (i.e. those associated with the long-term impacts of a cyber-attack, such as the loss of
competitive advantage and customer churn). When added to immediate costs (i.e. legal and forensic investigation fees, and extortion pay outs), slow burn costs can dramatically
increase the final bill.
The reality is – Insurance is just one facet of good cyber protection … Software/Hardware, Training & Company Policies are all vital to effective cyber defense.
