Level of perceived cyber risk falls: Willis Towers Watson

The level of perceived cyber risk has declined across commercial lines and industry sectors, according to a report Thursday from Willis Towers Watson PLC.

Perceived cyber exposure has dropped substantially across all the commercial lines surveyed since the 2018 survey, Willis Towers Watson said.

The level of perceived cyber risk as measured by industry is also lower in 2019 “across the board,” Willis Towers Watson said.

The survey measures the expectation of more than 600 insurance professionals that cyber exposures will increase the likelihood of a covered claim over the next 12 months under insurance policies not specifically designed to cover cyber risk, the broker said.

For example, across property lines, the number of respondents expecting more than one new cyber claim for every 100 noncyber claims decreased by 26% in 2019.

Across industry groups, the IT/utilities/telecoms sector remains the industry group seen as most vulnerable to cyber risk for property and other liability, while the financial services sector is seen as most vulnerable to cyber risk for directors and officers and errors and omissions the report said.

“It will be interesting to see if 2018 marked the high-point of concern, or if other factors such as future high-profile loss events again change the direction of silent-cyber claims expectations in 2020,” Peter Foster, chairman of global FINEX cyber and cyber risk solutions for Willis Towers Watson, said a statement released with the report.