Steve White, the British Insurance Brokers’ Association chief executive, has announced the creation of a cyber committee to monitor developments in cybersecurity and provide advice to insurance brokers on possible risks. The committee will be made up of technical experts from member firms. Speaking at the association’s annual conference on April 7th, White cited an increase in cyber risk in the UK as the driver for the decision.
In the speech White said that he believed that the government figures on cyber security breaches are a cause for concern.
According to statistics cited by White, 65% of large firms detected a cyber security breach or attack over the past year and 25% of these experienced a breach at least once a month. The most costly breach was £3m and the average cost of a breach in large businesses was £36,500.
“These numbers demonstrate that doing nothing about these risks is not an option and firms of all sizes need to take action,” said White. “BIBA is looking at its own processes and we will shortly be working towards the Government’s Cyber Essentials accreditation so that we understand and mitigate our own risk.”
Cyber Essentials is a security certification scheme created by the Council of Registered Ethical Security Testers that sets out a baseline security standard against which organisations can be judged and certified. According to UK government statistics, approximately 80% of cyber attacks could be prevented if businesses followed the guidelines set out by Cyber Essentials.
BIBA’s 2016 manifesto states that the association will help inform members on how to protect themselves from cyber attacks and promote the use of cyber insurance protection.
White concluded concluded that: “Cyber risk is increasing in the UK and BIBA is committed to helping members and their customers protect themselves against it.”
