Hartford Steam Boiler (HSB), a subsidiary of Munich RE, has released a new study finding that 90 percent of businesses experienced at least one hacking incident in the past year with the number of attacks increasing 21 percent from 2015. “Hackers are even more relentless,” said Eric Cernak, cyber practice leader for Munich Re. “Sixty-four percent of risk managers say they have experienced more than six hacking incidents in the last year — up from 32 percent in 2015. U.S. businesses are under constant assault.” Additionally, risk managers are beginning to put more focus, and worry, on Internet of Things (IoT) devices as only 26 percent of those surveys deemed such devices safe for business use. Nonetheless, over half of the businesses surveyed already use or plan to implement IoT devices. “As businesses use IoT devices to improve productivity and efficiency, they must think about the security costs,” said Cernak. “Hackers are always looking for ways to access company business systems and connected devices provide additional infiltration points. It’s important to control security features on these devices and monitor employee use.”
It’s no secret that cyber insurance is gaining traction across all industry sectors, and 50 percent of businesses both large and small indicated either the purchase of cyber insurance for the first time or an increase in level of coverage in the last year. However on the other side, 30 percent of businesses claimed to have no level of insurance coverage. Aside from cyber insurance, respondents expressed interest in using encryption (44 percent) and intrusion detection/penetration testing (28 percent) to combat cybercriminals’ ever evolving tactics. However, risk managers also worry that the use of these cybersecurity measures will hurt their businesses in more ways than one. Not only are they costly and time consuming, experts fear implementing cyber technology can lead to the loss of confidential information, government intrusion and service/business interruption. Key industries participating in the study included: manufacturing/industrial; financial and professional services; retail; technology; government and military; education and public entities; aerospace, defence and technology; and healthcare. Click here for full findings and survey methodology.