According to global consultancy AON, insurance costs for cybersecurity breaches have doubled as ransomware attacks rampant around the world.
According to the report Cyber Insurance Market Insights, average premiums will rise 113% from 2020 to 2021, and AON Australia predicts that costs will continue to rise in 2022.
“Ransomware has plagued organizations and insurers alike across all industries and segments, which is equally difficult for small businesses, as well as large and public institutions.” The report said..
“Insurers have been working to understand the threat vectors that organizations face and the control frameworks that mitigate, minimize, or eliminate these threats,” he continued.
Ransomware attacks often involve millions of dollars being paid until a hacker or syndicate freezes or encrypts the victim’s file and the ransom is paid.
In recent years, there have been some high-profile attacks targeting major organizations such as Colonial Pipeline Company, JBS Foods, SolarWinds and Kaseya Limited. The latest global brand to target is Toyota, which had to stop production after a supplier was hit by a cyberattack on March 1.
While other concerns, such as data and privacy breaches, still exist, according to AON’s report, ransomware “dramatically” outperforms these other cyberattack media and is “big” in all industries and jurisdictions. Caused “confusion”.
“The impact is truly perceived by everyone, and compared to traditional data breaches, the economic impact of such issues will take effect immediately (usually within 12 months),” the report said. Says. The insurance market, which was traditionally “long tail class insurance” —complex issues have generally been resolved over longer periods of time.
Australian insurers reduce “line size” or coverage by 50% while further scrutinizing companies’ attention to cybersecurity, including multi-factor authentication, endpoint protection software, privileged access management and network security, and implementation of disasters. I corresponded with that. Recovery plan.
Authorities in Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States have jointly issued guidelines to encourage organizations to adopt strong cyber defenses.
In addition, experts warn that democracies could fall into the predicament of a Russian-backed hacker group that is currently targeting the Ukrainian government’s website and infrastructure.
“Malicious cyber activity can affect Australian organizations through unintended confusion and uncontained malicious cyber activity,” the Australian Cyber Security Center said in a warning.
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Daniel Y. Teng is based in Sydney. He focuses on national politics, including federal politics, COVID-19 response, and relations between Australia and China. Do you have a hint? Contact him at [email protected]