Small and medium enterprises forgoing cyber coverage: Survey

A total of 57% of small and medium enterprises do not have cyber insurance, while 63% have experienced some form of cyber incident, says a survey issued Monday by Argo Group International Holdings Ltd.

The survey of 200 SMEs was conducted in the United States and United Kingdom in September, according to a statement by Hamilton, Bermuda-based Argo. Also surveyed were 150 brokers in both countries.

Breaking it down by revenue, the survey found that 27% of SMEs with annual revenue below $25 million have insurance; 48% of those with annual revenue between $25 million and $100 million do so; and 55% of those with between $100 million and $250 million in annual revenue have the coverage.

A total of 27% of those surveyed said they were “likely” or “very likely” to purchase cyber insurance, while 60% said they do not believe their current internal cyber security processes are adequate.

Reasons given for not buying cyber coverage were: they do not believe their in-house security is adequate, 42%; the insurance is too expensive, 35%; and lack of interest from senior management or board of directors, 32%.

Among the brokers, 64% said their clients have seen an increase in security breaches during the past year, while 81% said many of their clients still do not understand the significance of cyber threats and need to allocate more resources toward defending against them.

In addition, 93% of brokers surveyed said their clients’ senior management and boards of directors need to be more involved with cyber security issues.