Security News > 2022 > August > Higher risks and premiums are creating critical gap in cyber insurance

Only 55 percent of companies have any insurance at all.

"The situation is particularly acute for uninsured small and mid-sized businesses, who must weigh the soaring costs of cyber insurance premiums against the very real risk of being unable to recover from a successful attack."

About 37 percent of respondents with cyber insurance don't have coverage for ransomware payment demands and 43 percent are not covered for ancillary costs, including court fees or employee downtime.

Another factor is the rising cost of insurance premiums fueled by such large-scale attacks as the one last year on Colonial Pipeline - which paid the $5 million ransom - and JBS Foods, which paid $11 million.

In a report, the US Government Accountability Office found that more organizations are taking cyber insurance coverage - rising from 26 percent in 2016 to 47 percent in 2020 - while insurance companies between 2016 and 2019 saw the costs of cyberattacks almost doubling.

The BlackBerry survey found that 60 percent of respondents said they would reconsider partnering or dealing with a business or supplier if they lacked comprehensive cyber insurance and 68 percent of IT leaders said they likely would reassess a partner or supplier based on their cybersecurity practices.

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2022/08/11/insurance_ransomware_blackberry/