As news recently started to circulate of increasing COVID-19 cases and the potential suggestion that further case increases could potentially lead to additional waves of restrictions; business owners would be forgiven for wondering what the next few months will hold in terms of employee working regulations. Over the last 18 months, with companies world-wide, as well as employees themselves, experiencing unprecedented levels of people working remotely from home. Should staff members have to revert to working from home again? We at SJL Insurance Services can’t help but wonder what lessons businesses may have learnt from previous lockdowns when it comes to cyber-attacks.
In research commissioned by SJL Insurance Services carried out by YouGov in June 2021, it was revealed that at the height of lockdown 17% of British businesses experienced more cyber-attacks since their employees had started working from home because of the Coronavirus pandemic. Furthermore, 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 for 12% of all British businesses, who were a victim of cyber-crime lost money into the hands of the criminals involved.
So why do business not take out cyber insurance?
Is it one of ‘those’ costs which businesses deem as an area where they can look to save money? At SJL Insurance Services we believe it could be due to several reasons, firstly, that business decision makers are not fully aware of the various aspects cyber insurance can cover, and secondly that business decision makers may see cyber insurance as an additional operating cost. Thirdly we see often hear that business owners believe that their IT systems are robust enough to not need cyber insurance. What initially could very innocently start out as a cost saving decision could prove costly to many companies’ bottom line. The report further identified that only 23% of British businesses had protection in the form of cyber-insurance, 41% of businesses suffered losses up to £10,000 and 16% suffered of businesses losses between £10,000 – £1,000,000. The overall average financial loss seen by those who had experienced a cyber-attack is a staggering £223,516.
A further sobering statistic identified in the report was that of those businesses who had suffered financial loss due to cyber-attacks, 61% were at home when it happened, compared to nearly a quarter (23%) who were in the office.
So, what cost can you as a business decision maker put on cyber insurance? Surprisingly to many people the cost of cyber insurance is relatively low, certainly when compared to the associated losses but this alone does not seem to convince business owners, as it was further identified that only 14% of British businesses bought cyber-insurance after suffering a cyber-attack, which brings SJL Insurance Services back to wanting to increase awareness of cyber insurance and the many elements this insurance can protect against.
Despite these increasing cyber-crime statistics, it was not all doom and gloom, as the report also identified that of those people working from home, 27% of people reported having fewer IT accidents like spilling drinks onto equipment or leaving devices on trains whilst working from home!
Learn more about the types of activities cyber insurance can protect you against.
