Cyber risk top of mind for executives in North America

CNA Hardy’s November 2018 biannual Global Risk and Confidence Survey (Survey) revealed that North American executives view cyber risk as the second largest risk their companies face, followed closely by technology concerns.

Technology frequently takes up a large proportion of companies’ overall budgets. And as labour costs increase, technology investment, with its ever-advancing development of artificial intelligence and robotics, is being viewed as a catalyst for growth. Technology risk in the Survey is defined as “the risk of IT system failure, disruption from new tech-enabled competitors or start-ups”. And, according to the Survey, companies are also cognizant of the inherent risks that technology presents, including the rising scope for disruption that a cyber-attack or data breach could create. The Survey states that respondents are aware of the full range of cyber threats that their companies could be exposed to, including ransomware, identity theft, security breaches, data loss, regulatory compliance and cloud security.