Enhance your risk management with insights from claims data, insurance applications and more, leading to the top five cybersecurity trends to look for going into 2022. The cyber landscape has undergone a dramatic transformation since the onset of the pandemic. Industries large and small are caught in the crosshairs of increasingly sophisticated attacks. Continued work from home has only increased what's at stake for all businesses. One of the ways to make sense of it all is to look into current cyber claims data from across North America and draw out trends to help businesses prepare for and prevent future devastating cyberattacks. Real visibility into cyber incidents ideally comes from three primary sources: policyholders reporting incidents and claims, data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, and finally, from the tens of thousands of insurance applications businesses file each year. The above slideshow highlights the top five cyber claims trends for 2022. Together these sources helped us produce our second annual H1 Cyber Insurance Claims Report, featuring analyzed claims data through June 2021 from our customers across the United States and Canada.

Not all is lost

While it may feel like organizations are under a continuous wave of attacks, most remain unsophisticated. Phishing, exploitation of remote access points, exploiting unpatched software with known vulnerabilities, and weak credentials will continue to be the main causes of cyber incidents. Basic risk mitigation controls will continue to remain effective mitigations:

• Email security, including spam filtering and user training, is important.
• Ensure technical vulnerabilities like old, unpatched software or insecure remote access tools are unavailable for attackers to exploit.
• Backups should be implemented and tested regularly before a cyber incident occurs.
• Never process new requests or change payment requests based on email — implement defined processes with a two-party approval process.
• Create a layered defense for your network with multifactor authentication and endpoint detection and response.

Cybercriminals are opportunistic, particularly when it comes to small businesses, and the technology and processes that organizations use are far more indicative of their risk than their industry. Coalition CEO Joshua Motta attended the White House cybersecurity meeting alongside other industry leaders and pledged to partner with the U.S. government, the private sector, and academia to share insurance claims data to reduce the losses across all organizations. Shawn Ram is head of insurance at Coalition, Inc. This article originally ran on the Coalition blog and is reprinted here with permission. Related:

• Penalties are possible for 'facilitating' ransomware payments
• Cyberattacks, failure to innovate are execs' top tech concerns
• How cyber insurance benefits businesses