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SME concerns over cybercrime have doubled since 2013: Zurich


December 4, 2015   by Canadian Underwriter


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Concern over cybercrime among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in 2015 has doubled to 8% from 4% in 2013, according to a new survey from Zurich Insurance Group.

One in six small and medium-sized enterprises still consider themselves to be “too insignificant to attract the attention of cyber criminals.”

The survey, which polled 3,000 C-suite executives and managers at SMEs across 15 countries in the Americas, Asia-Pacific and EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa), was released on Thursday. It found that SMEs in Malaysia (which ranked the risk as fifth), Turkey (ranked sixth) and the United States (ranked sixth), are most worried about cyberattacks.

From a list of nine potential threats resulting from cybercrime, SMEs globally rate theft of customer data as the most critical risk of cybercrime (28%), while damage to reputation following a cyberattack ranked second (16%). “However, many still believe they are too small to be at risk,” Zurich added in a statement.

One in six (17%) SMEs still consider themselves to be “too insignificant to attract the attention of cyber criminals. Zurich does not share this view, since hackers are not only looking at the size of the potential gain, but also at the ease of committing the crime,” the statement added.

“The results of this year’s SME survey, as well as the Advisen Cyber Survey findings reveal that demand for cyber insurance is growing significantly around the globe,” said Lori Bailey, global head of Special Lines at Zurich, in the statement. “However, there is still a misconception among some SMEs that they will not be affected by this pervasive issue.”

Other findings of the survey are as follows:

• There were “significant regional differences,” with SMEs in Europe (11%) and the U.S. (10%) far less worried about the potential impact on their reputation compared to those in Asia-Pacific (31%), Latin America (19%) and the Middle East and Africa (18%);

• Business disruption following a cyberattack is of particularly high concern in Europe (ranked second) compared to Latin America (ranked 10th) and globally (ranked 5th);

• The number of SMEs that claim they have cyber protection in place is twice as high in Latin America (12%) and Asia-Pacific (10 percent) compared to the Middle East and Africa and the U.S. (5% each); and

• Theft of money/savings has made it into the top three of the biggest cyber risks in Turkey, Austria and the U.S.

Zurich’s third annual SME survey was carried out by the research company GfK. The leaders of 3,000 small and medium sized enterprises (0 to 250 full-time employees) around the world were asked to identify up to three risks faced by their business in 2015 and up to three opportunities to grow. A representative sample of 200 CEO/owners, general managers, chief financial officers/treasurers and chief operating officers/head of operations from each of the following 15 countries were included: Austria, Brazil, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and the U.S.


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