The health care sector was the hardest hit 

Data breaches and ransomware attacks were the main contributors to UK cyber claims in 2021, according to Marsh McLennan’s latest report published yesterday (7 June 2022).

The Cyber Trends Report 2021 revealed that data breaches and ransomware accounted for 51% of cyber incidents for the broker’s London clients.

However, claims from data breach attacks saw a slight decline in 2021 to 83% – down from 95% the previous year.

The healthcare industry was the hardest hit by cyber attacks in 2021, accounting for 23% of the total claims. Communications, media and technology (CMT) came in second at 20%, while professional services followed at 16%

Between 2015 and 2021, the healthcare industry, CMT companies and financial institutions represented the majority of cyber losses, accounting for 58% of claims.

Aviation was the lowest at 1%, followed by the public sector and power utilities at 2% each.

BI losses

Ransomware incidents increased again in 2021.

While the most affected industries have remained consistent, the manufacturing segment saw an increasing number of ransomware incidents in 2021. This was likely due to the industry becoming more digital, said Marsh.

Ransomware is leading to more extensive business interruption (BI) losses, possibly contributing to an upward trend in claims by manufacturing companies.

In addition to this, Marsh pointed out that claims frequency decreased last year, which it attributed to the market conditions flattening – Q4 2021 saw 65 claims, compared with 77 in the same quarter in 2020. 

The broker predicted that its figures for claims in Q3 and Q4 2021 would increase from these figures however, due to a three to six month lag in claims notifications.