Cyber risk is the second biggest concern for business leaders across most industries and more than half believe that suffering a cyber attack is inevitable, according to the latest Risk Index by The Travelers Companies, Inc., yet 50% of businesses still lack any cyber insurance cover.
The survey of more than 1,200 business leaders found that 91% were confident that their companies had implemented best practices to avoid a cyber event, but results also indicated that 55% had not completed a cyber risk assessment while 62% lacked a business continuity plan.
At the same time, the percentage of businesses reporting that they had been the victim of a cyber attack doubled since the 2015 Travelers Risk Index, rising from 10% to 20%.
Small businesses were found to be disproportionately affected by cyber attacks, but were also the most likely to lack cover, with 74% reporting that they have not purchased cyber insurance.
The biggest cyber concerns continued to be security breaches, system glitches and unauthorised access to bank accounts, and cyber concerns came second only to medical cost inflation in most industries, with many large businesses in technology, banking and professional services sectors ranking it as their top concern.
Travelers also identified a number of other growing cyber-related concerns, such as operational software systems being remotely hacked, not having the resources to recover from a cyber event, and cyber extortion.
“Cyber risks carry serious consequences for any business, threatening everything from revenue to operations,” said Tim Francis, Enterprise Cyber Lead at Travelers.
“These findings reveal some surprising things about how companies view their cyber exposures, their relative confidence in dealing with them and the clear opportunity that exists for them to be better prepared for a cyber attack.”
