Cybercrime costs UK businesses about £2.8 billion annually

According to a report recently published by the Allianz Global the cybercrime costs UK businesses about £2.8 billion annually.

According to a report recently published by the Allianz Global the cyber criminal activities costs UK businesses about £2.8 billion annually, accounting for 16 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).

Cybercrime impacts on the global economy with £289.6 billion annual costs as reported study.

“Cyber risk is a major and fast-increasing threat to businesses with cybercrime alone costing the global economy approximately $445 billion* a year, with the world’s largest 10 economies accounting for half this total.” states the  A Guide to Cyber Risk: Managing The Impact of Increasing Interconnectivity report.

“As recently as 15 years ago, cyber-attacks were fairly rudimentary and typically the work of hacktivists, but with increasing interconnectivity, globalization and the commercialization of cybercrime there has been an explosion in both frequency and severity of cyber-attacks,” says AGCS CEO Chris Fischer Hirs. “Cyber insurance is no replacement for robust IT security, but it creates a second line of defense to mitigate cyber incidents. AGCS is seeing increasing demand for these services, and we are committed to working with our clients to better understand and respond to growing cyber risk exposures.”

The data will have a significant impact on the cyber-security insurance industry, the increasing awareness of cyber threats and privacy issues, and regulatory change will sustain a rapid growth of the sector.

According to Allianz Global the sector is predicted to be worth more than £13 billion worldwide by 2025, consider that today less than 10% of companies purchasing cyber insurance.

The experts predict a grow globally of cyber-insurance premiums for up to $20 billion over the next decade, a compound annual growth rate of over 20%.

The factors that most of all are influencing the cyber insurance growth are the increasing interconnectivity of IoT devices and  the prospect of a catastrophic loss as a result of a major data breach.

The cyber risks are becoming even more complex, intellectual property theft, cyber extortion and business interruption (BI) are the main adverse events for companies.

 “With increasing interconnectivity, globalisation and the commercialisation of cyber-crime there has been an explosion in both frequency and severity of cyber-attacks. Cyber insurance is no replacement for robust IT security, but it creates a second line of defence to mitigate cyber incidents.” eplained Chris Fischer, CEO of Allianz Global Corporate and Specialty (AGCS).

Data are congruent with information included in a recent study issued by ThreatMetrix revealed that UK businesses are more likely to be the victim of cybercrime than their international peers. According to the company British companies were attacked more than double the number of times as their US counterparts and Financial institutions were found to be the main target of the cyber intrusions.

Enjoy the report.

Pierluigi Paganini

(Security Affairs – Cybercrime, cyber insurrance)