Small Businesses Slow to Take Up Cyber Insurance

New Zealand Small Businesses Slow to Take Up Cyber Insurance Despite Cyber Attacks

Only 6 percent of small businesses currently hold a cyber insurance policy

New Zealanders lag behind Australia in uptake

AUCKLAND, New Zealand – 27 October, 2016 – Norton by Symantec (NASDAQ: SYMC) today released new survey data revealing only 9 percent of New Zealand small businesses are looking to purchase cyber insurance in 2017. Currently only 6 percent of New Zealand small businesses hold a cyber insurance policy, despite the fact that almost a fifth (18 percent) of the small businesses surveyed had experienced a cyber attack.

“Cyber insurance is an emerging trend as it presents an avenue for small businesses to become more resilient to a wide range of cyber risks and the costs associated with data breaches and business interruption. It can be a business’s safety net when all else fails,” said Mark Gorrie, Director, Norton Business Unit, Pacific region, Symantec.

The Norton survey provides some key cyber insurance findings about New Zealand small businesses:

• Barely 1 in 10 small businesses are looking to purchase cyber insurance in the next 12 months

Businesses with 11-20 employees were more likely to be considering purchasing cyber insurance (30 percent) as were businesses with an IT spend of $6,000 or more (19 percent).

• Cyber insurance increased with the size of the business and the presence of a server

While only six percent of all small businesses (1 – 20 employees) currently hold a cyber insurance policy, the survey revealed that as business size increased, so did the percentage of businesses holding cyber insurance. While only 2 percent of businesses with 1-3 employees had cyber insurance, 21 percent of businesses with 11 – 20 employees did. Additionally, once the business turnover reached $1 million+ or IT spend reached upwards of $6,000, the likelihood of the business owning a cyber insurance policy increased to 12 percent and 15 percent respectively.

• The average price for cyber insurance was estimated at just under NZD$1,600

New Zealand small businesses that are considering cyber insurance were also asked to estimate how much they would pay for cyber insurance. On average, businesses expected to pay $1,567, but estimates varied considerably and one third of respondents had no idea of what cyber insurance might cost.

• Loss or theft of data the key reason for taking out cyber insurance

Businesses with cyber insurance were asked to identify what risks they were insuring against. The Norton survey overwhelmingly identifies loss or theft of data as the key risk by 48 percent of respondents, followed by insurance/protection/precaution at 11 percent and software/hardware/server issues at 9 percent.

• Only 2 percent of businesses that have or have had cyber insurance made a claim

A very small proportion of businesses that currently have or have held a cyber insurance policy have made a claim against their policy.

New Zealanders behind Australia in cyber insurance

The same research was conducted in Australia, where there is a greater uptake of cyber insurance by small businesses. There, almost the same percentage of small businesses (19 percent vs 18 percent in New Zealand) have experienced a cyber attack but more than twice as many have cyber insurance (14 percent vs 6 percent in New Zealand) and a further 19 percent (vs 9 percent in New Zealand) are looking to purchase cyber insurance in the next 12 months.

And Australian small businesses are seeing the benefit of their cyber insurance. Almost one in five Australian businesses that have or have had cyber insurance in the past have made a claim (2 percent in New Zealand).

Insurance partner CGU, which offers cyber insurance protection for small to medium enterprise (SME) customers, understands just how important it is for businesses to protect themselves from cyber incidents such as privacy breach, system damage, extortion, computer virus, crime and hacking.

“Cyber security has become one of the biggest issues facing small to medium size businesses and individuals today and it’s not going away. At CGU, our role is to help our customers mitigate against potential risks that could essentially put them out of business,” said CGU National Underwriting Manager Professional Risks Najibi Bisso.

“At CGU, we understand how important it is for small businesses to protect themselves from the threat of a cyberattack and that’s why we’ve developed a CGU Cyber Defence product which provides broad coverage for customers and includes a cyber incident response service. Cyberattacks aren’t going away so, if you’re a business with a digital presence, make sure you’re protected for when an event occurs.”

“It’s not just big businesses that are being attacked by cybercriminals,” said Gorrie. “New Zealand businesses of all sizes are vulnerable to attacks. However, small businesses are traditionally more vulnerable because they often don’t have the same security resources and budgets as their big business counterparts.”

“The impact of a cyber attack to a small business’s brand, reputation, and business operations can be catastrophic. While many small businesses recognise the importance of proactive planning to prevent cyberattacks, the Norton survey reveals many are still unfamiliar with cyber insurance and its benefits and may not realise their normal business insurance does not cover loss as a result of cyberattacks,” added Gorrie.

An infographic highlighting the key survey findings is available here.

Norton and Symantec Cyber Insurance
Norton and Symantec Cyber Insurance are partnering with leading insurers globally to build customised product bundles and services for joint customers to improve their cyber security and financial resilience. This enables businesses to reduce the risk associated with cyberattacks and quickly recover from the financial cost of cyber events.

Using Norton and Symantec’s leading security products and services, businesses can raise awareness of cyber security amongst their staff, implement proactive security controls before an attack occurs, prepare for breaches with incident response plans, recover from events and transfer cost through an insurer’s cyber insurance policies.

Symantec Cyber Security Survey Methodology

Symantec’s Cyber Security Survey researched business perceptions of cybersecurity issues including computer backup, cyber security, ransomware and cyber insurance. The survey comprised a national sample of 525 business owners and operators, providing a sampling error at the 95% confidence limit of + 4.3%. The survey was conducted from August 2 – 23, 2016 amongst registered businesses employing between 1 – 20 people or sole traders in New Zealand.

About Symantec
Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ: SYMC), the world’s leading cyber security company, helps businesses, governments and people secure their most important data wherever it lives. Organizations across the world look to Symantec for strategic, integrated solutions to defend against sophisticated attacks across endpoints, cloud and infrastructure. Likewise, a global community of more than 50 million people and families rely on Symantec’s Norton suite of products for protection at home and across all of their devices. Symantec operates one of the world’s largest civilian cyber intelligence networks, allowing it to see and protect against the most advanced threats. For additional information, please visit www.symantec.com or connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
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