1) AIG CyberEdge
Cyber:
Joined up?
2) Captains of Industry 2015
Findings from independent research among senior business
leaders at the UK’s largest companies, suggest more needs
to be done to increase awareness of the vulnerabilities and
consequences in relation to cyber risks. We believe greater
joined-up thinking and board engagement is necessary.
Much has been written about the cyber threat in the last
few years in the media, with the breadth of risks faced by
almost every business. The landscape continues to evolve
rapidly, prompted by greater dependence on the cyber
world, economically and socially (as demonstrated by
developments such as the Internet of Things). This
increased reliance on the internet and technology has,
unfortunately, come hand in hand with more frequent,
sophisticated and professional cyber-crimes. While the
question businesses used to ask was ‘will I be targeted?’,
now it is more likely to be ‘when?’
Originally focussed on data loss/ breach, potential triggers
and impacts have widened to include business interruption,
theft of IP and even inter-connected events such as bodily
injury and physical damage with liability implications.
Furthermore, the global economy is becoming increasingly
networked, with disruption due to cyber threats more likely
to lead to financial and reputational damage. Cyber risk
has therefore moved from being an IT risk to an enterprisewide risk management issue that needs attention at board
level; a top-tier emerging risk for both businesses and their
directors.
With UK government involvement and the upcoming EU
cyber security directive, cyber risk is also taking centre
stage. The government has recognised cyber attacks to be
one of the most significant risks facing the UK, with the cost
to businesses rising. For larger companies, the first step
towards improving their cyber risk framework is to ensure
that their standard cyber ‘hygiene’ is properly addressed
(the NIST in the US provides detailed benchmarking via its
Cyber Security Framework). For SMEs, in 2014 the
government launched the Cyber Essentials scheme to help
guide businesses in protecting themselves against cyber
threats.
With attacks increasing and implications becoming more
far-reaching, companies need to actively reduce their
exposure to being targeted. And, if they are targeted,
consider how they can reduce the impact and mitigate their
risk in the future. Having an action plan in place prior to an
event is critical, as are end-to-end solutions involving
consultation leading to extra layers of prevention.
Insurance plays a key role in not just offsetting costs when
an event happens, but preventing an attack in the first
place, and responding correctly to mitigate when
cybersecurity does fail. The underwriting process helps
different parts of a company unify and focus on what their
vulnerabilities are and where they can work together to
mitigate them.
In response, the global cyber insurance market is growing
significantly at around 25-30% per year and has a value of
around $1.5-2bn.
AIG conducted this research to understand the views of
senior business leaders at very large companies – an
exclusive audience typically very hard to access. While we
know through other research that 88% of FTSE 350
companies include cyber risk within their strategic risk
report, there is little published data on deeper perspectives.
The findings can also be used as a reference point to
compare to the future attitudes and behaviour of mid-sized
and smaller companies as the cyber market matures
further.
Cyber risk has moved
from being an IT risk to
an enterprise-wide risk
management issue
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3) Captains of Industry 2015
Key Themes
We see four key themes emerge.
1. Cyber security needs to be given greater
prominence at board level
While 82% of senior business leaders stated they know
either a great deal or a fair amount about their
company’s cyber security governance and risk
management framework, their cyber security policy is
not discussed regularly at board meetings. Board
involvement in how the organisation protects itself is
critical.
Only just over a quarter of companies (26%) discussed
their cyber security policy regularly (defined as always
or more often than not), while over half (52%)
discussed rarely i.e. less often than not, or never
(Chart 1).
Chart 1: Thinking about board meetings in the last
twelve months, how often have you discussed the
company’s Cyber Security Policy?
6
4
22
Always
46
More often than not
22
However over a third (36%) of companies mention their
IT department as being designated for the maintenance
of cyber security, and with a further 11% of ‘other’
responses it is noticeable that almost half (47%) do not
designate cyber security to be a boardroom issue. What
we have learned from large breaches, is that cyber
security risk is not just a technology issue. It takes an
enterprise-wide effort to prevent attacks and to mitigate
damage when they happen. While the day-to-day
responsibility may rest with the technical or security
teams, strategy and response needs to have ownership
across functions, hence the need for board
engagement.
So, how confident is the board on emerging cyber
threats? While there is undoubtedly confidence among
many companies, with three quarters (77%) feeling
confident, a substantial minority of nearly a quarter
(23%) are not very confident or not confident at all on
the board being up to date on the nature of cyber
threats in this area of rapid change.
Half the time
Less often than not
Never
Base: British Captains of Industry [108]
Chart 2: How confident are you that directors fully
understand the legal implications of a serious cyber
security breach?
5
27
28
Very confident
Fairly confident
Not very confident
41
This context may link to the fact that companies are
split as to whether the maintenance of cyber security
levels is designated at board level. The board has
overall responsibility in 9% of companies, with a key
board member having ownership in a further 43% making a total of just over half (51%) of companies
having strong board representation. Certainly, having
key roles in place like a Chief Information Security
Officer, who reports to the CEO, is considered best
practice.
Not confident at all
2. While many directors may understand the financial
consequences of a breach, there is a knowledge
gap about the legal implications
Much has been written in the media about the financial
consequences of a cyber event – whether a regulatory
fine from a data breach, or other material remediation
required. This research confirms that directors in these
large companies are generally confident in their
understanding of the financial consequences of a
serious cyber security breach, with 86% feeling very or
fairly confident and only 13% not feeling confident
about the implications. This is a key priority, since the
cost of dealing with a data breach continues to rise.
However, when asked about their understanding of the
legal implications of a serious security breach, almost a
third (32%) say they are not very or not at all confident,
while 68% say they are confident (Chart 2). This is
concerning, given that boards and management can be
held accountable for this significant business risk. In the
UK, directors could potentially be liable if their failure to
prepare for cyber events constitutes a breach of their
duty to the company. In the US, shareholder lawsuits
have been filed against boards following large scale
data breaches.
Base: British Captains of Industry [108]
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4) Captains of Industry 2015
Chart 3: How confident are you that the IT department
is able to protect the company from a cyber-attack?
2
15
14
Very confident
Fairly confident
Not very confident
69
Base: British Captains of Industry [108]
Not confident at all
1
Don't know
3
Other
4
Outsource providers
Third party
organisations
Employees
31 28 31 19
Foreign governments /
agencies
8
Activists
63
Competitors
Perhaps this confidence is grounded in the fact that
45% of companies surveyed have experienced a cyber
security breach. However, with 62% thinking it likely
that their company will be the subject of a cyber attack
in the next 12 months and the potential impacts of an
attack becoming more serious, there is no room for
complacency. There is a problem in relying solely on
the IT department for data protection risk management
in that no set of controls can guarantee a data breach
won’t happen. In fact, following a serious cyber event,
one of the first casualties is often the head of IT.
Specific questions can gauge the maturity of a
company’s cyber security program, to understand if
cyber security is taken seriously at every level of the
company, including the board room.
75
Criminals
Furthermore, a very significant 84% think that their IT
department is able to protect the company from a cyber
attack. Only 16% are not confident in this regard
(Chart 3).
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Hackers
Overall, companies feel that they have identified their
levels of vulnerability across all key information assets
in relation to their company’s governance and risk
management of cyber security. A total of 90% feel very
or fairly confident in their identification, with only 10%
not feeling confident.
Chart 4: From where do you feel cyber attacks against
your company are most likely to originate?
%
3. The high level of stated confidence in companies’
IT departments may be misplaced
Base: British Captains of Industry [108]
4. While hackers and criminals may represent the
greatest perceived threat to cyber security,
problems internal to the organisation caused by
employees cause a significant number of breach
cases
Senior business leaders believe that cyber attacks
against their company come from a number of sources.
Hackers and criminals and are seen as the most likely
originators (Chart 4). However activists, foreign
governments (or their agencies), third party
organisations and employees are all seen as
significant.
Employees are seen to be the originators in 31% of
cases. Employees have (and continue to be) a
significant threat to companies, with their internal
defences more at risk. In a recent study by the
1
European Centre for Media, Data and Society , over
half (56%) of European data breaches from 2005-2014
involved problems internal to the organisation e.g.
insider abuse or theft, hardware issues and
administrative errors. Criminal hackers accounted for
42% of cases.
The human factor or human error is a common thread
we see in most attacks e.g. an employee opening a
phishing email, accessing risky websites, losing a
laptop or demonstrating lax protection of passwords. Or
exhibiting a less than robust reaction to an incident. The
education of employees as a first line of defence or, at
least, to be aware that they can open the door to an
attack, is critical.
1. Data Breaches in Europe: Reported Breaches of Compromised Personal Records in Europe, 2005-2014 – Center for Media, Data and Society, 2014:
http://cmds.ceu.edu/article/2014-10-07/data-breaches-europe-reported-breaches-compromised-personal-records-europe-2005.
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5) Captains of Industry 2015
Implications for
companies
Cyber security risk management and associated insurance
arrangements need to take centre stage at board level. Of
the companies surveyed, 44% had cyber insurance in
place, with a further 8% having considered cyber cover. A
significant minority, 18%, had not considered having cyber
insurance cover and as many as 31% were not aware if
their company had cyber insurance in place. They should
be. Gaps in coverage, from existing insurance policies not
being joined up, mean increased exposure to cyber risk
and more. To help companies understand about how they
should respond to the increased cyber threat, AIG have
written a paper (‘Achieving Cyber Resilience’), which has
been published by the Geneva Association.
AIG believes there
are 5 key questions
companies should be
asking themselves as
the cyber threat
continues to evolve.
1. Does your company have regular reporting
to and representation among the Group’s
board of Directors, to ensure a clear
understanding of current risk profile and
strategy?
2. Does your company monitor the cyber risk
landscape effectively as risks evolve?
3. Are you involving third party experts enough
(as opposed to in house), to ensure
adequate risk mitigation?
4. Do you have the specific Cyber coverage for
your needs in the event of a claim?
5. Have you reviewed your insurance policies
(including D&O) to understand how they
might respond to a possible Cyber incident?
To understand more about how companies should
respond to the increased cyber threat, please see our
detailed briefing Achieving Cyber Resilience, published
by The Geneva Association.
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6) Captains of Industry 2015
About the author
Mark Camillo is Head of Cyber and
Professional Indemnity, EMEA at AIG
Europe Limited.
Technical note:
Ipsos MORI conducted 108 interviews with respondents from top 500 companies by turnover and top 100 by
capital employed in the UK. Respondents were Chairman, Chief Executive Officers, Managing Directors/ Chief
Operating Officers, Financial Directors or other executive board directors. Interviews were carried out face to
face (4 were carried out over the telephone) between September and December 2014.
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