Modest growth in cyber insurance: RIMS

Risk professionals’ continued to show confidence in stand-alone cyber insurance policies as the number of practitioners who purchased the coverage increased moderately in 2017.

According to the 2017 RIMS Cyber Survey, organisations with standalong cyber insurance policies increased from 2016 by three percent to 83 percent. Among this segment, 84 percent indicated that other insurance policies include cyber liability coverage. Seventy-two percent of respondents transfer cyber exposures to a third-party (up four percent from 2016). Another key finding of the survey showed that business interruption (80 percent) and cyber extortion (72 percent) top the list of first-party cyber exposures. Interestingly, only 34 percent of respondents thought that the government should mandate cyber security standards.

“At any given moment, cyber-predators can unleash a new hack to infiltrate an organisation’s system, steal or lock critical data and cause significant business interruption damages,” said RIMS president Nowell Seaman. “RIMS Cyber Survey shows that risk professionals continue to invest in cyber insurance products and must work in tandem with their insurers and IT professionals to help develop innovative and adaptable solutions for the next generation of cyber threats.”

This year’s RIMS Cyber Survey had 288 respondents with demographics regarding industry sector, organisation revenue and number of employees holding close to 2016 results.