As cyber attacks continue to grow in sophistication, frequency, cyber insurers are expecting their market to double in the next two years.

I’ve spent a lot of time here on this blog educating you on attack specifics, industry trends, and the impacts felt by attacks. I’ve also talked quite a bit about cyber insurance and the trends therein. But seldom have we been able to  combine the two and present the state of cyber attacks from an insurer’s perspective.

Cyber Insurer Munich Re recently released their Cyber insurance: Risks and Trends 2023 report which provides us with some insight into the state of attacks and the impact on cyber insurance. According to the report:

• Cyber crime costs in 2022 are estimated at $8.4 trillion
• They are expected to be approximately $11 trillion in 2023
• They are expected to rise to $24 trillion by 2027

According to Munich Re, “ransomware was, by far, the leading cause of cyber insurance losses”, making it primarily responsible for the projected massive growth in cyber insurance – which is estimated to have been a market size of $11.9 billion in 2022 and projected to reach $33.3 billion by 2027.

There’s a 3x growth estimated in cyber crime costs over the next 4 years and a 3x growth in the cyber insurance market in the same timeframe. This means that organizations should expect both a rise in the frequency of attacks in the coming years, as well as an increase in the cost of cyber insurance. Rises in insurance costs should be a clear indicator that spending budget on prevention methods (that include security awareness training) is far better than putting all your eggs in the cyber insurance basket.