CFC has announced an update to its cyber risk heat map to include more detail on the key exposures for a broad range of industry sectors, including construction, education, healthcare, transport and logistics.

Built from data relating to the thousands of claims that CFC has managed since being one of the first insurers to enter the cyber market 25 years ago, as well as trends that its in-house incident response team is witnessing externally, this free tool uses a colour coded graph to rank the severity of exposure for different industry sectors to business interruption, privacy and cyber crime.

“There’s a common misperception that cyber criminals are only interested in attacking businesses that hold sensitive data, when in fact our experience shows that criminals are industry agnostic, attacking many that hold no sensitive data at all, said Lindsey Nelson, cyber development leader at CFC. “Cyber criminals are increasingly targeting traditional industries such as transport and construction to those providing professional services, whether through ransomware and extortion or business email compromise scams. The motive is to go after businesses that are vulnerable, rather than valuable, as the easiest route to financial gain.

“To help brokers start the conversation with these clients and demonstrate that the risk to their businesses is very real, we’ve created a new version of our cyber risk heat map which hones in on the areas that are truly relevant to each industry sector.”

Brokers can also use CFC’s free ransomware calculator to estimate the cost of a ransomware attack to a client. Drawing upon historic data from CFC’s claims experience over the past two decades, it provides low, medium and high severity ransomware loss estimates as well as a more detailed report explaining the cost breakdown, methodology used and actionable tips to help prevent attacks from occurring.

“It’s vital that cyber insurers give brokers the tools they need to provide their clients with a realistic picture of the risks they face and the costs they may face in the event of an attack,” Nelson added. “We’re committed to supporting our brokers and will continue to develop more sales aids over the coming months.”

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