Cyber-attacks are becoming more sophisticated and devastating, especially for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). With ransom demands rising and the cost of data breaches soaring, businesses are investing heavily in building their cyber defenses. However, cybersecurity is not bullet-proof. Buying a cyber risk insurance program can help outsource residual risk, and deploying multi-factor authentication is a prerequisite not only for getting coverage but also for lowering premiums.

Cyber-attacks are becoming an existential problem

Throughout 2021, public and private organizations felt the significant impacts of the ever-changing cyber threat landscape. Ransomware dominated the threat landscape in 2021. The targeted nature of attacks coupled with the growing sophistication of cybercriminals resulted in extensive losses for organizations worldwide. The threat will increase with ransomware-as-a-service expanding its scope and reach.

In the first six months of 2021, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network reported that the value of ransomware-related suspicious activities was $590 million compared to $421 million for the entire of 2020. Meanwhile, the United Kingdom’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) reported that in just the first four months of 2021, it handled the same number of ransomware incidents as it did in all of 2020 — which was triple the number the NCSC faced in 2019.

According to the IBM 2021 Cost of Data Breach Report, the average cost of a ransomware breach has increased to $4.62 million, while the total cost of a data breach has increased by 10% from 2020 to 2021. Costs are related to four groups of activities associated with data breaches: detection and escalation, notification, lost business, and post-breach response. Lost business represents the largest share of breach costs (38%).

As cyber criminals mature and advance their tactics, small and medium businesses become the most vulnerable because they lack the capacity – staff, (Read more...)