February 2020
Cyberattack is on the increase, as cyber criminals develop ever more inventive and sophisticated means to steal information, gain unauthorised access, disable, disrupt or destroy. Typical cyber threats include phishing, malware, ransomware, distributed denial of service (DDoS) and SQL injection, to name but a few.
To some, they are simply cyber terms to describe attacks that happen to other people, mainly big business or infrastructure. To others, they are a real threat and, all too often, a reality. The truth is they can happen to anyone, large companies, small businesses and individuals.
A case study
A recent event happened to one of Turner Rawlinson’s clients, showing how easily it can happen and why it’s so important to have adequate cyber insurance in place. Our client, a major company, was involved in a tender process that involved a team of people being transferred to another company. They sent a letter to a local authority, enclosing a USB with full details of all staff members involved, including names, dates of birth, address and so on. It was encrypted, but along the way it was either lost or stolen.
By law, this event required them to notify the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), a requirement of which they had no experience or knowledge, so contacted their cyber insurer. They comment: “We were really pleased we had the cyber insurance policy. After running through the issues a couple of times, we were assigned a law firm who specialise in this area. They wrote up the report to the ICO and advised what we needed to do. Accordingly, we wrote to all staff, set up a credit monitoring service and produced a FAQ document. It was a 5-star service. Without this expert assistance, the cost and complexity of having to deal with this ourselves would have been prohibitive.”
Latest figures*
Research indicates that most companies have unprotected data and poor cybersecurity practises in place, making them vulnerable to attack, with a marked increase in hacking from sources such as mobiles and loT (Internet of Things) devices that are increasingly used within the workplace.
Recent figures reveal:
62% of businesses experienced phishing and social engineering attacks in 2018 (source: Cybint Solutions)
data breaches exposed 4.1 billion records in the first half of 2019 (source RiskBased)
71% of breaches were financially motivated and 25% were motivated by espionage (source: Verizon)
52% of breaches involved hacking, 28% malware and 32-35% phishing or social engineering (source Verizon)
Are you protected?
Cyberattacks are occurring on an unprecedented scale and, in our opinion, it is absolutely imperative for any company to have a ‘fit for purpose’ cyber policy. We offer comprehensive insurance that can be tailored to your specific requirements, giving you protection from loss or damage to digital assets, security breaches, reputational damage, Business Interruption, Theft, Money and more. Our advice is to speak to us before it is too late. For further details, click here or call us on 020 8450 5336 and we will be pleased to advise on the level of liability you need to have in place.
*Source: Varonis Cyber Security Statistics
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