Survey Says 27% of Companies Buy Network Liability Insurance

A new risk survey by Towers Watson, the US professional services firm, reports that 27% of companies buy insurance to cover the risk of cyber attacks. Reading between the lines, the impression is that most firms felt the cost of premiums too high relative to the degree of risk being transferred. That said, many companies without network liability insurance justified their decision by emphasizing alternative kinds of risk mitigation, such as the capability within their IT function.

Details are scant, but it is assumed that most survey respondents were from US companies. Survey answers were received from 164 individuals, mostly in the health and manufacturing sectors; 3 were reportedly from the communications sector. Though the language used by Towers Watson is unnecessarily alarmist, and they failed to show a link between the data and some of their conclusions, there are some interesting results in the details. For example, 54% of firms claim to have an ERM process in place – I was surprised that this was so high. Follow these links for the press release, summary, and report.

Eric Priezkalns
Eric Priezkalns
Eric is the Editor of Commsrisk. Look here for more about the history of Commsrisk and the role played by Eric.

Eric is also the Chief Executive of the Risk & Assurance Group (RAG), a global association of professionals working in risk management and business assurance for communications providers.

Previously Eric was Director of Risk Management for Qatar Telecom and he has worked with Cable & Wireless, T‑Mobile, Sky, Worldcom and other telcos. He was lead author of Revenue Assurance: Expert Opinions for Communications Providers, published by CRC Press. He is a qualified chartered accountant, with degrees in information systems, and in mathematics and philosophy.