Cyber Readiness

Cyber Readiness

The Hiscox Cyber Readiness Report 2021

Don’t let cyber be a game of chance

The fifth annual Hiscox Cyber Readiness Report provides an up-to-the-minute picture of the cyber readiness of organisations, and offers a blueprint for best practice in the fight to counter an ever-evolving threat.

The report shows that cybercrime is on the rise - and so is the threat to business.

The proportion of businesses targeted by cyber criminals in the past year increased globally from 38% to 43%, according to the Hiscox Cyber Readiness report 2021, with over a quarter of those targeted experiencing five attacks or more. Those attacks are pushing many firms to the brink, with one in six businesses attacked saying the financial impact materially threatened the company’s future.

These are among the findings of a study of 6,042 companies across eight countries, commissioned by specialist insurer Hiscox. Now in its fifth year, the Hiscox Cyber Readiness Report, surveyed a representative sample of organisations in the US, UK, Belgium, France, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands and included 320 companies in Ireland.

  • 39% of Irish companies suffered a cyber attack in the past 12 months, with 70% of those companies targeted more than once.
  • The highest cost of a single incident or breach to a firm was €742,923, while the median cost was around €6,937.
  • Ransomware now commonplace: Around one in every six firms attacked (16%) were targeted with ransomware and 75% of those firms paid up, either to recover data or to prevent publication of sensitive information. The single largest ransom paid in Ireland was close to €40,000.
  • Phishing emails were the main way in for the extortionists (65%), with smaller companies particularly likely to succumb. Other methods of entry included credential theft (reuse of staff username/password), third-party suppliers and unpatched corporate cloud servers.
  • Jump in cyber security spending: On average, 21% of Irish firms IT budget is allocated to cyber security, this figure is up from 13% in 2020.
  • Gulf in perception on Covid-19 dangers: New questions asked in 2021, highlighted perception around Covid-19 and cybersecurity in Ireland. 44% of respondents believe their organisation has been more vulnerable to cyber attacks since the start of the pandemic, with 59% of those believing this is due to remote working. Interestingly, 54% claim that their company has increased their cyber defences because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Cyber Insurance

A key takeaway from this year’s report is to make sure companies are cyber ready. With good risk management and appropriate cyber insurance, firms can contain the impact of an attack and limit the damage.

The Cyber Readiness Report  2021 shows 43% of Irish businesses reported already having cyber coverage as part of a policy. Cyber insurance coverage not only protects from financial loss but includes training resources and emergency response tools to reduce the impact of a breach on your bottom line.

Learn how your business stacks up and how you can be more cyber ready by downloading the full report.

At Hiscox, we want to help ensure your business and your clients businesses are cyber ready.

We have introduced two new tools that allows you to assess a firms cyber preparedness and resilience at managing cyber attempts and attacks - The Health Check and Maturity Model.

Assess the business in minutes: Let’s start your Cyber Health Check

Tell us about your business. Then answer seven cyber questions to receive your Cyber Health Check score. Choose the option that comes closest to how your business handles cyber security.

Check my cyber readiness

An in-depth evaluation: The Maturity Model

The Maturity Model offers insurance brokers a robust review of a company’s cyber risk profile.

It allows company’s and brokers to assess and gauge the firms’ strengths in six key cyber security areas, using an in-depth question set.

The result is a gold standard, value-added service, allowing companies to see where they have gaps in their cyber security operations across three key functions – people, process and technology.

Evaluate my cyber readiness

To find out more about the Cyber Readiness Report 2021 or would like to discuss our range of cyber insurance solutions and please contact:

Contact the team
Susanna Donnelly
Development Underwriter
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