Ransomware hiking cyber loss frequency, severity: Aon

Loss frequency and severity, particularly related to ransomware, is increasing, says an Aon PLC report issued Tuesday.

“Significant rate increases, capacity contraction and ransomware clarifications and sub-limits have become common,” according to the Aon Global Market Insight Q3 report.

The report says cyber, and especially ransomware, have surpassed directors and officers and natural catastrophe risk “to become the most strained class of business.

Meanwhile, “Losses for the COVID-19 pandemic have not yet materialized to levels initially feared by (re)insurers,” according to the report.

Looking at the North America market overall, the report says conditions “continue to stabilize as combined ratios shift, capacity continues to flow in, and pandemic-related underwriting uncertainty subsides.”