Cyber premiums, risk, ransomware expected to rise: Woodruff Sawyer

The cyber market is expected to shift gears in 2024 as premiums, risk and ransomware are all forecast to be on the rise, according to a report Wednesday from San Francisco-based brokerage Woodruff Sawyer & Co.

Although the broker’s clients saw cyber insurance premiums fall in 2023 – 58% of clients in the first half of the year and 65% in the second half – a growing camp of underwriters – 81% compared with 59% last year – forecast that cyber insurance premiums will “increase slightly” in 2024.

The brokers’ survey, meanwhile, showed that 56% of respondents think cyber risk will “increase greatly,” in 2024, up from 26% last year.

Ransomware is also on the rebound after a lull in 2022, with 2023 attacks rising back to 2021 levels, the highest year of ransom claims on record, according to the report. The costs of these attacks also rose, as a smaller number of companies paid ransoms that were “dramatically higher,” according to the report.

Companies and entities are also facing increased regulation, such as the requirement from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to disclose material incidents within four days of discovery, “a dramatic shift for those required to comply,” the report said.

States are also increasingly governing privacy, with 13 states having statutes such as the California Privacy Rights Act of 2020.