PRESS RELEASE
Thursday 15 July 2021
SJL INSURANCE SERVICES INVESTIGATE JUST HOW PROTECTED BRITISH BUSINESSES ARE FROM THE THREAT OF CYBER-ATTACKS IN THE SJL CYBER REPORT 2021, CARRIED OUT BY YOUGOV
- The report found that the average loss of those who had experienced a cyber-attack is a staggering £223,516.
- The survey reveals that the number of British businesses that have ever had cyber-attacks was 28% of British businesses in June 2021 compared to 20% in June 2019.
- This includes over a fifth (21%) of SMEs and nearly 4 out of 10 (37%) of British businesses with an annual turnover of £10 million or more.
The new survey reveals that 17% of British businesses have experienced more cyber-attacks since their employees have started working from home because of the Coronavirus pandemic and that more than half (55%) of businesses that have staff working from home have received more fake letters, phone calls, text messages and emails from companies pretending to be Royal Mail, the DVLA, HMRC or similar, and 12% of all British businesses the victims have lost money into the hands of the criminals involved.
Despite all of this, only 23% of British businesses had protection in the form of cyber-insurance. Not having cyber insurance is proving costly to the bottom line of many companies – 41% of businesses suffered losses up to £10,000 and 16% suffered of businesses losses between £10,000 – £1,000,000. What’s more, the average loss is a staggering £223,516.
More than 61% of decision makers whose businesses have suffered cyber-attacks where they have lost money were at home when it happened, compared to nearly a quarter (23%) who were in the office. Positively, 27% of people report having fewer IT and cyber accidents like spilling drinks onto equipment or leaving devices on trains whilst working from home. More positives are the number of businesses who claimed to never have had a cyber-attack, which has almost halved from 79% in 2019 to 43% in 2021).
Only 14% of British businesses bought cyber-insurance after suffering a cyber-attack, while the number of companies who had cyber-insurance has fallen since 2019 (31% to 23%) – this could suggest that not enough is being done to educate British businesses on the need for new forms of insurance to protect their data or that companies have cut overheads because of the pandemic.
Simon Lancaster of SJL Insurance Services who commissioned the survey for a second year said: “The internet and technology is not 100% secure no matter how much investment you throw at it because we have seen the likes of huge multi-billion-dollar firms and governments with the best systems get phished and hacked. The single only way to protect your assets is to get cyber insurance added to your business policy.”
Research commissioned by SJL Insurance Services and carried out by YouGov in June 2021.
Notes to the Editor
Read more information on the Cyber Breach Report March 2021 by the UK government on the government’s website here
Research conducted by SJL Insurance Services June 2021 (1,093 Business owners in Great Britain)
About SJL Insurance Services
SJL Insurance Services was established in 2001 and insures any type of business. SJL insures billions of dollars’ worth of assets every year. SJL Insurance’s headquarters are in Worcester, UK. The Company is an official Lloyd’s of London broker, with clients across the UK and outside of the UK and gross written premiums of over £20 million per year.
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