Cyber insurance is ‘well outside the comfort zone’ of many brokers
More than half of UK SMEs say their broker has failed to raise the issue of cyber insurance with them, according to a survey commissioned by specialist underwriting agency CFC Underwriting.
The survey of 254 UK-based SMES conducted by survey consultancy Censuswide on 6 March showed that 50.8% of respondents said their broker had not raised cyber insurance with them.
CFC chief innovation officer Graeme Newman said: “This figure is quite shocking particularly when you put some context around it. 90% of our cyber claims come from businesses with less than £50 million in revenue and we get more than one claim every single day. This shows just how vulnerable SMEs are to cyber attacks.
He added: “I think it sadly demonstrates that cyber insurance is still well outside the comfort zone of many brokers who are providing their clients with a wide range of commercial covers. However, the research shows that there is also a gulf in awareness amongst SMEs themselves as to the very real threat that cyber crime poses.”
Cyber crime failed to top the list of what SMEs regard as the biggest threat to their businesses, the survey showed. A fifth of those surveyed said they had never assessed their exposure to a cyber attack and 56% said they do not have an incident response plan for a cyber attack.
Newman said: “The insurance industry should be doing more to raise awareness amongst SMEs that this is just as significant a risk as others that a business faces. In order to do that, we need to drop the hype and confusing rhetoric and provide our clients with clear facts and a crisp explanation of what cyber risk is actually about.
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