Fear of cyber attacks is at an all-time high among business leaders, according to an annual survey by property-casualty insurer Travelers Cos.
The 2019 Travelers Risk Index released Monday found that cyber risks are the top concern for businesses of all sizes as 660 of 1,200 business leaders surveyed, or 55 percent, say they “worry some” or “a great deal” about such threats — a record high for the 6-year-old study, Travelers said.
Other top concerns for business leaders include medical cost inflation (54 percent), employee benefit costs (53 percent), job hiring and retention (46 percent) and legal liability (44 percent).
The uptick in cyber attack prevention comes as small, medium and large businesses have all experienced more breaches since 2015.
Travelers said the percentage of small businesses that have suffered from cyber attacks has tripled to 12 percent over that period. Cyber attacks have also doubled among medium-sized companies, from 10 percent in 2015 to 20 percent in 2019, and jumped from 19 percent to 33 percent for large businesses.
In breaking down specific cyber concerns, business leaders were especially worried about suffering a security breach or unauthorized access to bank accounts. Trailing concerns were extortion, a ransomware attack and social-engineering scams.
Despite mounting concerns, one in four survey respondents said they didn’t believe their company would experience a cyber attack, and cited cost as the top reason for not buying a cyber insurance policy.
