Businesses are finally realizing the continually present threat that hackers, scammers, and cybercrime organizations pose, according to new data from insurer Allianz.
Any kind of business disruption poses some level of risk to the organization. Usually, those concerned about business continuity are thinking about traditional “disasters” such as hurricanes, fire, power outages, etc. But, according to the ninth annual Allianz Risk Barometer 2020 Report from Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS), cyber incidents now ranks as the number one business risk out of a list of 18. Surveying over 2700 executives across 100 countries, this new data provides insight into what risks truly have the attention of today’s organizations.
According to the report, cyber incidents ranked 15th just seven years ago, demonstrating the material shift in risk cyber attacks now pose to organizations today. The growing scope and expense of data breaches, hacker and ransomware attacks, and employee error were the top three causes of cyber incidents concerning execs.
According to the report, three approaches are needed to manage cyber risk:
- See cyber incidents as a key business risk, adding to overall Enterprise Risk Management initiatives
- Perform continuous vulnerability and risk assessments
- Implement continual employee Security Awareness Training and phishing testing
So, it’s official! Cyberattacks are THE risk organizations need to concern themselves with. It’s no longer “something that happens to other companies”; it’s a legitimate risk that you need to be taking action on immediately.
