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Dive brief:
- Half of contractors surveyed don’t have cyber insurance, a new survey by New York City-based insurance company Travelers found.
- The Traveler Risk Index 2024which began publication in 2014, asks business insurance managers at US companies of various sizes and industries about the issues that concern them most, according to a press release announcing the results. This iteration, conducted by Hart Research, had 1,202 respondents across eight industries.
- For the fourth time in six years, cyber threats ranked as the top concern for survey participants. A record number of participants, 62%, say they are somewhat or very concerned about cyber risks.
Diving knowledge:
The survey breaks down the results by sector. For contractors, the main fear was hackers gaining unauthorized access to financial accounts. The second was the failure of the company to operate due to cyber events, and the third was a security breach or hackers.
Despite these concerns, however, contractors are still lagging behind. While 80% of industry respondents believe having adequate cybersecurity controls is critical:
- 70% do not use endpoint detection and response tools.
- 70% do not have a post-breach team.
- 56% do not have an incident response plan.
- 50% do not have cyber insurance.
- 45% do not use multi-factor authentication for remote access.
“The results speak to the greater awareness of the business community about cyber threats and the catastrophic damage, both operational and financial, that a cyber attack can have on a company,” said Tim Francis, head of business cyber at Travelers. “What’s worrying is that while more companies are securing cyber insurance as a tool to mitigate vulnerabilities, many are still choosing not to, despite knowing the risks.”
Historically, construction has been vulnerable to cyber threatsand the survey results come against the backdrop of two recent incidents. last year, a targeted hack Commercial construction underwriter Builders Mutual Insurance Co., which affected the personal information of 64,761 customers, current and former employees.
Also, in September, the cyber security firm Huntress discovered an emerging threat for users of Foundation Software, which provides accounting services to contractors.
Citing the report, Travelers published a cybersecurity guide that recommended companies take actions such as conducting audits or reviews of security and data privacy measures; interview internal or third-party IT professionals about a system’s data security and privacy protection capabilities; and enacting safeguards such as multi-factor authentication, endpoint detection, and data response and backup.
