Managing E-Risks in today?s cyberspace: Growth of Cyber Liability Insurance

With cyber-attacks becoming increasingly sophisticated and frequent, and with IT data volumes growing at an unprecedented rate, data breaches have become inevitable. Leading organizations across the world are failing to deal with cyber threats in their risk management strategies. These threats will become considerably more acute for organizations as a result of growing dependence on technology and web-based solutions such as cloud computing. While cyber risks are sometimes thought of as ?online? or Internet risks, a massive information theft recently occurred at Target?s brick-and-mortar stores when customers swiped cards and entered PINs while making in-store purchases. Currently, most buyers are high risk entities such as financial institutions, healthcare providers and retail companies. But as these larger businesses develop a better understanding of the risks associated with holding private data electronically and take measures to protect themselves, hackers will turn their attention towards smaller organizations. Whilst the rewards might not be as high, SMEs are often less secure and less prepared in the event of a privacy breach. Therefore cyber cover will be seen as an essential component of any commercial insurance program for every size of business operating in every market and industry.