Claud Bilbao, regional vice-president of underwriting and distribution at Cowbell UK, explains how organisations can be proactive to mitigate cyber threats
Much like other leading economies, the UK is encountering a huge rise in sophisticated cyber threats.
One of the main triggers of this is artificial intelligence (AI), which has empowered cyber criminals to execute more adaptive and scalable attacks – such as advanced malware and automated phishing attempts. Meanwhile, the quality of digitally produced visual representations has become so good that deepfakes have become even harder to detect too.
Alongside AI, geopolitical instability and out of date encryption methods have also meant that organisations’ cyber vulnerability has been growing.
With factors like these at play, it is perhaps not surprising that last year saw a record number of breaches – more than 10,000 cyber breaches were recorded across 94 countries, according to Verizon’s 2024 Data Breach Investigations Report, which was published in May 2024.
As well as increasing in volume, cyber breaches have also increased in severity, with threats becoming more sophisticated than ever. Of those 10,000 breaches identified by Verizon, 62% were financially motivated and involved ransomware or extortion, with a median loss of £35,500 per breach. This is a potentially devastating figure for an SME.
Prevention better than cure
These statistics demonstrate that companies, whether large or small, are becoming more vulnerable to cyber attacks – especially those businesses that rely on outdated, reactive approaches.
Organisations increasingly recognise the importance of investing in strategies that anticipate and mitigate risks before they materialise, rather than waiting to respond to breaches and pick up the pieces.
This is a trend we are seeing reflected in the cyber insurance market, with more players focusing on supporting businesses with better preventive propositions.
Cowbell is one such player, having recently strengthened its risk management offering with the UK launch of its Cowbell Resiliency Services (CRS) unit. This aims to provide businesses with the most up to date insights and learning needed to defend against emerging threats, all while minimising financial and operational risks.
The unit offers two new subscription-based cyber resiliency services to all UK policyholders, including:
- Cowbell Penetration Testing-as-a-Service (PTaaS): This delivers comprehensive internal and external network assessments to identify and address cyber vulnerabilities. Using tools such as Nessus, Metasploit and Burp Suite, PTaaS combines automated and manual techniques to perform online reconnaissance, vulnerability exploitation and penetration testing across network infrastructures, servers, workstations and websites. Clients then receive detailed findings and remediation recommendations.
- Cowbell Cyber security Training-as-a-Service (CTaaS): Powered by Wizer, CTaaS, offers access to more than 100 videos, quizzes and progress reports. The programme includes smart phishing simulators and interactive games to educate employees on identifying and mitigating cyber threats, to reduce the human errors that often lead to cyber attacks.
The increased availability and interest in the use of such services is not only needed on a company by company basis, but to also benefit the entire insurance ecosystem.
Brokers can strengthen client relationships by positioning themselves as trusted advisors, policyholders can enhance their cyber resilience – a move that can also unlock enhanced coverage benefits – and insurers can reduce claims.
The saying ‘prevention is better than cure’ has stood the test of time for a reason and I’m encouraged to see this way of thinking gain traction in the insurance industry.
