Insurers play ‘key role’ in fight against cyber attacks

On the back of the widely publicised Optus cyber attack, the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) has welcomed a new report which highlights the role insurance plays in protecting businesses against cyber attacks.

ICA said Actuaries Institute’s new analysis on cyber risk mirrors its own paper released in March that noted “unprecedented growth in digitisation and connectivity has led to increased cyber risk”.

The group said insurers can help improve cyber security by working alongside clients to reduce the risk and, in the event of an attack, provide technical, legal and financial support.

“This week’s extraordinary cyber attack on Optus and its customers demonstrates how important it is for large and small organisations to have robust cyber protections in place,” ICA CEO Andrew Hall said.

“This chilling example reminds us that more needs to be done to protect businesses and organisations from cyber attacks.”

ICA also supported Actuaries Institute’s finding that one of the current limitations for insurers writing cyber insurance is a lack of available data.

“Working in partnership with the government, insurers have a key role to play to help businesses protect themselves and recover from cyber attacks,” Mr Hall continued.

“The Actuaries Institute provides yet another opportunity to discuss how industry and government can work in partnership to tackle this significant challenge.”

The representative body of the general insurance industry previously called to establish a sustainable cyber insurance market to coincide with the release of its March paper, Cyber Insurance: Protecting our way of life in a digital world, and stated a desire to work alongside the Albanese government.

ICA argued that cyber insurance — which provides support to businesses in these matter — is not yet well-known by the industry, which along with increasing loss ratios and reduced risk appetite requires an overhaul of the government’s current policy settings, including making minimum security requirements and third-party certifications for software and hardware mandatory.

Neil Griffiths

Neil is the Deputy Editor of the wealth titles, including ifa and InvestorDaily.

Neil is also the host of the ifa show podcast.