News stories of large scale cyber attacks (often resulting in data breaches and/or IP losses) are becoming ever more common.
This week it was made public that Norsk Hydro, a Norwegian aluminium producer, is recovering after hackers took 22,000 computers offline at 170 different sites around the world. It is reported that Norsk Hydro refused to cave in to the cyber-criminal’s demands and has spent £45m trying to restore its business to full strength.
Aon’s 2019 Global Risk Management Survey has 'cyber attacks/data breaches' ranked sixth in a list of key risks or challenges facing organisations in today’s volatile world, and indicates that these risk are only partially insurable. All this (and more) begs the question as to whether there is enough attention being given to the threat of cyber – by both businesses and insurers.
There are a range of reasons as to why cyber events are thriving in today’s world – we are all more connected, there has been a rapid expansion of operational data from mobile devices and information is transmitted via faster networks. Trying to keep pace with today’s ever changing digital world is a challenge in itself, and with rapid change comes the inevitable vulnerabilities and flaws that can be exploited by cyber criminals and others for a variety of motives.
In our most recent insurtech briefing, our team has looked at the threat of cyber, the difficulties cyber poses to the insurance world and how insurtech companies are offering services to support the insurers, and ultimately the insureds, define, price and mitigate cyber risks with greater confidence.
