10th June 2022 – Author: Jack Willard
Reinsurance giant, Munich Re recently published the results from its Global Cyber Risk and Insurance Survey 2022. The survey was conducted among more than 7,000 participants from 14 countries.
On a global level, data from the survey shows that attacks in ransomware, data breach and online fraud have increased year-on-year. Ransomware has increased from 21% to 28%, data breach has increased from 32% to 43%, and online fraud has increased 38% to 46%.
Looking at the survey’s results regionally, India, China and South Africa rank among the top three most affected countries overall.
However, with regard to ransomware attacks, 98% of C-level respondents said the attack had an impact on day-to-day operations – in 42% of cases, the incident had an immediate impact, and in 27%, an even worse severe immediate impact on day-to-day business. Munich Re states that these numbers illustrate the immense threat posed by a digital weapon like ransomware.
In addition, 38% of C-Level participants from the survey said that they are extremely concerned about a potential cyber-attack taking place on their company.
Of the 14 countries that participated in the survey, India was the highest country for C-Level respondents that are most concerned about a potential cyber-attack taking place on their company at 92%. Brazil came in second at 89%, followed by Spain at 85%, and South Africa at 83%.
Munich Re noted that all the companies that were surveyed are focusing strongly on new, smart technologies. The list of technological drivers is headed by 5G, cloud services, AI, and data analytics.
Highly IT-oriented countries like India and China, as well as South Africa and Brazil lead the list of nations that see the biggest potential in digitalisation.
In addition, only 12% of C-Level participants from the survey do not consider digital trends relevant to their businesses. However, in line with these developments, security vulnerabilities and cyber attacks are on the rise.
Moreover, 83% of C-Level respondents said that their own company is not adequately protected against digital threats. In the survey, Munich Re stated that this high number comes as a surprise in light of the fact that business models increasingly rely on digitalisation and that awareness of associated threats is high.
Meanwhile, on a positive note, compared to the previous year’s survey, the availability of cyber insurance appears to have gained further traction, as there has been a 21% increase in the number of companies that have already taken out cyber insurance.
Adding further to this, results also showed that 35 % of C-level participants are considering cyber insurance for their company, therefore showing significant business potential for the insurance industry.
