Cyber-related business interruptions are now a top concern among corporate risk managers, Zurich's 2019 Advisen Information Security and Cyber Risk Management report found. Moreover, this increased worry over cybersecurity is fueling change within the cyber insurance marketplace as customers' demands increase and expectations evolve, Zurich concludes. "The cyber insurance marketplace is expanding and maturing to meet the increasing demands of corporations concerned about the ever-evolving cyber risks," said Paul Horgan, head of U.S Commercial Insurance. "Businesses are not only buying more coverage, they are asking for innovative and robust solutions that address menacing new threats." In its ninth annual Advisen Information Security and Cyber Risk Management report released last week, Zurich details its findings from surveys of 350 corporate risk managers, insurance buyers and other risk professionals, in order to reveal current views about information security and cyber risk management. Several of the survey's key findings are detailed in the slideshow above. |

Cyber survey findings analyzed

The Zurich survey found that respondents' increased concern and awareness of cyber threats is linked to increased news coverage of major data breaches in recent months and years. Choosing from a list of 11 possible outcomes of cyber risk events, 95% named data breach as the number one risk, followed closely by cyber-related business interruption at 94.5% and cyber extortion/ransom at 89%. Reflecting on the evolving demands and expectations of cyber insurance customers, Michelle Chia, head of Professional Liability and Cyber for Zurich North America explained in a statement that in the past, the most attractive targets were organizations with large databases of personally identifiable information that could be stolen and monetized on the Dark Web. Now, Chia says, "While that risk is still with us, criminals are expanding their target lists to include organizations that historically have not had large stores of salable data. The goal is to immediately cash in by taking control of a network until a ransom is paid. Cyber attacks are bad enough for private businesses, but they can be particularly damaging for municipalities, universities and others dependent on legacy systems that may be less well-defended or are infrequently updated." See also: |

Want to continue reading?
Become a Free PropertyCasualty360 Digital Reader

Your access to unlimited PropertyCasualty360 content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:

  • Breaking insurance news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
  • Weekly Insurance Speak podcast featuring exclusive interviews with industry leaders
  • Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
  • Critical converage of the employee benefits and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, BenefitsPRO and ThinkAdvisor
NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.

Danielle Ling

Danielle Ling is an experienced video journalist and business reporter. As associate editor, Danielle manages all multimedia and reports on industry news and risk-related coverage, managing all weather-related content. A University of Maryland and Philip Merrill College of Journalism alum, Danielle previously served as a video journalist for Verizon FiOS 1 News NJ, Push Pause. Connect with Danielle on LinkedIn or email her at [email protected].