- Allianz survey reveals cybersecurity is the most common business concern
- Companies are also worried about disruptions and new technologies
- AI Could Help Give Us Better Insights and Data Analysis
Insurance giant Allianz has revealed that cyber attacks, such as data breaches, ransomware and other IT disruptions, are now considered the top concern for many businesses.
The news comes as the number of cyber attacks continues to rise globally amid continuing geopolitical fallout and advances in artificial intelligence, which have increased the accessibility of malware to more attackers.
Other notable factors seen as putting businesses at risk include business disruption (31%), changes in legislation and regulation (25%) and new technologies (10%).
Companies are concerned about cybersecurity
Cited as a top concern by 38% of global survey participants, cyber incidents are of greater concern in the UK, where 41% of businesses expressed anxiety. Another 19 countries cited cybersecurity as their top concern, including France, Germany, India and the United States.
Additionally, the second most popular concern, business disruption, could also include the consequences of cyber incidents, making the risk even higher than the numbers suggest.
“For many businesses, cyber risk, exacerbated by the rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI), is the big risk that trumps everything else. It is likely to remain a significant risk for organizations in the future, given the increasing reliance on technology,” said Rishi Baviskar, global commercial director of cyber risk consulting at Allianz Commercial.
Around mid-2024 we saw how our reliance on technology can cause major disruptions: a faulty Crowdstrike update caused an outage that took millions of Windows Server devices offline.
Looking around us, conflicts in the Middle East, Ukraine and Southeast Asia continue to impact larger organizations; The category also made its first appearance on the list of the top 10 threats facing small and medium-sized businesses.
Allianz says that while rapid technological advances may be alarming, they can help deliver “better data analytics, predictive insights and more agile response capabilities.”
