Biba 2026: Ben Wallace warns insurers cyber resilience is ‘more important, not less important’

Former defence secretary Ben Wallace has urged the insurance sector to play a leading role in improving the UK’s resilience against cyber threats and geopolitical instability during his opening address at the 2026 Biba Conference.

Speaking to delegates, Wallace linked growing international tensions, economic uncertainty and domestic instability to rising risks for businesses and consumers.

A major theme of Wallace’s speech was the growing threat posed by cyber attacks and the role insurers can play in helping businesses prepare.

“I helped establish the national cyber security centre,” he said.

“I worked with all REs to try and extend the insurance coverage to cover cyber, because it is a fact that today our adversaries and criminals use, most often, cyber as a route to extract money, or, indeed, put pressure on it.”

Wallace warned that many organisations remained underprepared for disruptive events and criticised the UK’s wider resilience planning.

He said: “Our resilience is threadbare. We need to all invest and contribute to it.”

He also suggested that brokers would become increasingly invaluable as businesses navigate misinformation, AI and emerging risks.

“Insurance brokers and the insurance industry are the only group of people with deep enough pockets to commission the analysis, to commission the intelligence and indeed to understand the threats that are coming,” Wallace said.

“Institutions are going to be more important, not less important. And insurance brokers are part of that.”

Important products

Wallace also pointed to ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, alongside uncertainty surrounding US president Donald Trump, as factors contributing to volatility in trade, energy prices and security.

He argued that insurance products would become increasingly important in providing reassurance.

“There is instability at home and there’s instability abroad,” he said.

“People at home feel a little less secure and spend less, the economy grows less. They will look, of course, to your products, therefore, as an important way of giving them reassurance.”