Insurance Stats Reveal UK Firms’ Poor Cybersecurity

UK firms still have lower levels of cybersecurity maturity than their US counterparts, according to newly revealed stats from a leading global underwriting firm. CFC Underwriting made the claim after analyzing figures which revealed UK organizations made a disproportionately high number of claims in 2016 relative to the number of these firms on its books. The UK represents just 8% of CFC’s policy count yet 17% of its claims count, a spokeswoman told Infosecurity. Privacy breaches (31%) accounted for the biggest number of claims, followed by financial loss (22%) and ransomware (16%). Malware accounted for just 7% of claims, just ahead of DDoS attacks (5%), “unauthorised access to systems” (5%), and business interruption (4%). It’s also noteworthy that the vast majority of claims (90%) are made by firms with annual revenue of less than £50 million, although they apparently hail from a variety of industries. Claims on policies are said to be up 78% on the previous year – highlighting the fact that breaches continue to occur apace, despite not being publicized.