According to a recent Accenture Cyber Threat Intelligence Report, cyber threats are
increasing in frequency -- and in damaging results. Here are some of the disturbing statistics
in the report:
Five industries accounted for more than 60% of all cyberattacks in the first half of
2021: Consumer goods and services, 21%; industrial, 16%; banking 10%; travel and
hospitality, 9%; and insurance, 8%.
The insurance industry was the most frequent focus of ransomware attacks in the
first half of 2021.
Ransomware was the most frequent malware by category, accounting for 38% of
attacks, followed by backdoors, which allow criminals to bypass normal
authentication channels and gain remote access, which accounted for 33% of the
total.
"Despite heightened awareness, government action and industry collaboration, ransomware
is likely to remain one of the top threats to businesses globally," the report said. "If anything, it
has entered a new phase as threat actors adopt stronger pressure tactics and capitalize on
opportunistic intrusion vectors."
The Identity Theft Research Center (ITRC), in its annual data breach report, announced that in
2021 there were a record 1,862 data compromises in the U.S., a 68 percent increase over 2020
and 23 percent over the previous all-time high of 1,506. According to the report, 294 million
people had their data compromised in 2021 compared to 310 million in 2020. The report notes
that ransomware-related data breaches are expected to overtake phishing as the number
one root cause of data compromises in 2022 based on the current growth rate.
Business Interruption
In its 2021 Global Risk Management Survey, Aon listed business interruption as the number
two risk faced by risk managers today. (This represented a dramatic departure from Aon's
2019 survey. Back then, business interruption was ranked as number seven.) To complete its
top 10 risk, AON asked over 2,300 risk managers and C-suite professionals from 60 countries
and/or territories and 16 industries about their key risks and how they managed and mitigated
them.
The average number of cyberattacks increased by 125% in the first
half of 2021 alone.
THE NEW RISK MANAGEMENT | 5
