The continuing influence of GDPR, which went into effect in May 2018, has also had an effect on cyber-insurance claims, with far more being made after the new legislation came into force. It was noted this could be to do with GDPR requiring all data breaches to be made public, with companies that fail to act suffering large fines – the cost of which can be offset through cyber-insurance.
The nature of cyber threats is evolving rapidly. As businesses become ever more reliant on technology, the risk of suffering a loss related to problems with computer systems, holding sensitive customer data such as names and addresses or own employees payroll data, continues to grow.
Modern cyber threats have three unique challenges:
- Cyber threats are systemic and a single attack can lead to a lot of consequences, so threats can quickly propagate throughout networks, even across geographical borders.
- They are intangible, so understanding the nature of the risk exposure is a real challenge for insurers, this is underpinned by a lack of trusted insight into the frequency and severity of attacks.
- Cyber threats are still generally human driven, whereby those planning an attack will study the defences in front of them and try to circumvent them – so it is always a battle to stay one step ahead of the threat.
There is no doubt as to the severity of business interruption caused by a cyber attack and how the ever expanding digital world risk of exposure is growing exponentially.
Charter Insurance Brokers are working closely with specialist insurers who have launched comprehensive insurance products designed to support and protect your business in the event of a data breach, or are subject to an attack by a malicious hacker. Please speak to us on 01772 326800 about how you can protect your business and we will provide a quotation for cyber liability cover.
