Overview
Cyber risk is now a major threat to businesses. Increasing interconnectivity, globalization and “commercialization” of cyber-crime are driving greater frequency and severity of cyber incidents, including data breaches.
The question for all business is not IF they will suffer a Cyber Attack but WHEN!
Companies increasingly face new exposures, including first-and third-party damage, business interruption and regulatory consequences.
The operating environment for many industries changing dramatically, as they now become more digitally-connected.
Data privacy and protection is one of the key cyber risks and related legislation will toughen globally. More notifications of, and significant fines for, data breaches can be expected in future. Legislation has already become much tougher globally, while the European Union is looking to agree pan-European data protection rules. Tougher guidelines on a country-by-country basis can be expected.
Business interruption (BI), intellectual property theft and cyber-extortion – both for financial and non-financial gain – risk potential increasing. BI costs could be equal to – or even exceed – direct losses from a data breach.
Attacks by hackers dominate the headlines but there are many “gateways” through which a business can be impacted by cyber risk. Impact of BI triggered by technical failure is frequently underestimated compared with cyber-attacks.
