Graeme Newman, Chief Innovation Officer at CFC, said: “This figure is quite shocking particularly when you put some context around it. 90% of our cyber claims come from businesses with less than £50 million in revenue and we get more than one claim every single day. This shows just how vulnerable SMEs are to cyber attacks. I think it sadly demonstrates that cyber insurance is still well outside the comfort zone of many brokers who are providing their clients with a wide range of commercial covers. However, the research shows that there is also a gulf in awareness amongst SMEs themselves as to the very real threat that cyber crime poses.”
Despite the fact that cyber offences now account for over half of all crime in the country, when SMEs were asked what poses the biggest threat to their business, cyber crime failed to top the list and a fifth claimed that they had never even assessed their business exposure to cyber risk. More than half (56%) do not have an incident response plan in place outlining roles and responsibilities in the event of a cyber attack.
Newman concluded: “The insurance industry should be doing more to raise awareness amongst SMEs that this is just as significant a risk as others that a business faces. In order to do that, we need to drop the hype and confusing rhetoric and provide our clients with clear facts and a crisp explanation of what cyber risk is actually about. With major changes to UK data protection legislation on the horizon, it is more important than ever that brokers put this on the agenda to ensure that their clients have the right cover in place to protect their business.”
