Updated: September 27, 2023 03:03 PM
Hannah Gurga, executive director of the Association of British Insurers, speaks about the fight against cybercrime at the Abir@30 Lunch Forum at the Hamilton Princess and Beach Club (Photo by Alex Masters)
Days after Bermuda’s worst ever cyberattack, the executive director of the Association of British Insurers said insurance professionals needed to work together to fight cybercrime.
“Cybercrime is rapidly becoming the biggest threat facing our customers,” said Hanna Gurga at yesterday’s Abir@30 Lunch Forum.
“It doesn’t matter if you have a hit or not, because every business is under attack all the time. The smallest WordPress website is targeted hundreds of times a day. We have been attacked by hacking bots millions of times.”
Speaking shortly after Prime Minister David Burt opened the event at the Hamilton Princess and Beach Club, she thanked everyone for their support following the “severe and sophisticated cyber attack” that has crippled many government agencies. expressed his gratitude.
Gurga said a single vulnerability, such as a weak password, can cost an organization billions of dollars.
Florida Insurance Commissioner Mike Jaworski speaks at the Abir@30 Lunch Forum at the Hamilton Princess and Beach Club. Photo by Jesse Moniz Hardy.
“The answer for insurance customers can’t just be more insurance, but that doesn’t mean we should go backwards,” Gurga said. “The insurance industry is the only one that is aware of almost all cyberattacks. We have the knowledge. We want to protect our customers, so we have an incentive.”
He said the insurance industry has the ability to leverage its strengths through collaboration, data sharing and collaboration with intelligence agencies to stop cybercrime.
According to the website Venture Beat, 85% of businesses experience a ransomware attack at least once a year. More than 60% paid the ransom. According to his website for IT support services company AAG IT Services, only 42 percent of companies actually report these attacks to authorities.
“Keeping cyber-attacks secret helps no one but the perpetrators,” Gurga said. “We need aggregated incident data to help quantify it. We need intelligence on individual attacks in real time so all businesses can protect themselves.”
She urged insurance industry leaders in the audience to “move forward.”
“Moving forward means better defense,” she said. “Every company, every supplier, every employee must adhere to the highest security standards. Moving forward means being proactive.”
She said her organization, ABI, has launched a cyber safety tool to help small and medium-sized businesses assess their cyber risks and receive tailored guidance on how to stay safe.
“Moving forward means we have to work with the UK Information Commissioner’s Office and the National Cyber Security Center,” Mr Gurga said.
He said ABI was at the forefront of these efforts in UK industry.
“But evil doesn’t care where you are,” she said.
• Update: This article has been corrected to clarify that David Burt characterized recent government cyber incidents as “serious and sophisticated cyberattacks” rather than ransomware attacks.