One of the sectors being hit the hardest by cyber attacks is the public or government sector.
Due to tight budgetary concerns, this sector is getting targeted by hackers due to their lack of resilience to cyber threat. Some of the more interesting facts out of a recent report out from our friends at the Insurance Journal.
- “Last August, for example, American International Group (AIG), one of the country’s largest writers of cyber insurance, announced that rates for its clients had increased nearly 40% globally and that it was tightening the terms of its policies to address increasing cyber losses.”
- “In the past three years, the number of cyber insurance claims reported in the United States rose by 100% a year, according to a May report by Fitch Ratings, a credit rating agency. In 2021, insurers paid 8,100 claims.”
- “In 2020, ransomware attacks accounted for 75% of cyber insurance claims in the U.S., according to AM Best, a credit rating agency.”
Rita Reynolds, Head of the National Association of Counties, I feel nails the current cyber environment with this quote:
“Insurance companies are saying higher standards are needed at a higher cost and lower coverage. It’s kind of like a perfect storm.” – Rita Reynolds, National Association of Counties
Be prepared.
Do not allow the “noise” surrounding the subject to confuse listening to what is important to change your corporate threat posture.
Your renewal is a 365 day event that can now be tracked online at every moment due to the easiness of “Pen” (penetration) testing. In essence, how easy are you to be exploited available 24/7 to anyone that desires to understand an underbelly to attack.
Read more in the following article:
Cyber Insurance Price Hike Hits Local Governments Hard
Horry County, South Carolina, officials were in for a shock earlier this year, when they discovered their cyber insurance premium would be spiking from $70,000 last year to about $210,000.
And if they couldn’t satisfy the insurance company’s requirements and prove they had the robust controls needed to protect and defend themselves against cyberattacks, they learned, they wouldn’t be able to get their $5 million policy renewed at all.
“The insurance companies have you over a barrel. There was not a lot of negotiation,” said Tim Oliver, the county’s chief information officer.
Across the United States, many local governments and states — as well as private companies — are in the same boat. They’re discovering their cyber insurance premiums have skyrocketed and that they must meet stricter guidelines if they want to get coverage or renew their policies.
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