Business email compromise incidents are on the rise in the ‘deep fake’ era, while ransomware remains a top cyber risk for organisations globally.

At the same time, the war in Ukraine and wider geopolitical tensions are a major concern as hostilities could spill over into cyber space and cause targeted attacks against companies, infrastructure or supply chains.

These are among the findings of a cyber threat report from Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty, which also highlights the emerging threats posed by the growing reliance on cloud services, an evolving third-party liability landscape that means higher compensation and penalties, as well as the impact of a shortage of cyber security professionals.

Such potential vulnerabilities mean that today a company’s cyber security resilience is scrutinised by more parties than ever before, including global investors, meaning many firms now rank it as their major ESG risk concern, the report notes.

“The cyber risk landscape doesn’t allow for any resting on laurels. Ransomware and phishing scams are as active as ever and on top of that there is the prospect of a hybrid cyber war,” says Scott Sayce, global head of cyber at AGCS and Group Head of the Cyber Centre of Competence. “Most companies will not be able to evade a cyber threat. However, it is clear that organisations with good cyber maturity are better equipped to deal with incidents. Even when they are attacked, losses are typically less severe due to established identification and response mechanisms.

“Although we see good progress, our experience also shows that many companies still need to strengthen their cyber controls, particularly around IT security training, better network segmentation for critical environments and cyber incident response plans and security governance. As a cyber insurer we are willing to go beyond pure risk transfer, helping clients to adapt to a changing risk landscape and raising their protection levels.”

Share Story: