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Aon, a leading global professional services firm, has launched a new offering aimed at increasing the resilience of businesses in Europe, the Middle East and Africa and the UK by addressing cyber insurability challenges.

Insurers are experiencing mounting losses, largely driven by the proliferation of ransomware, with the frequency of events up nearly 500% since 2018. The increased frequency and severity have driven significant rate increases and led to more difficult insurance placements and renewals in the cyber insurance market.

To combat increasing losses, insurers have begun evaluating whether their insured have instituted adequate security controls. This is an unfavourable evaluation that will most likely lead to a company being uninsurable. While larger organisations may have more sophisticated security controls in place, many mid-market organisations across the UK and EMEA are failing to demonstrate adequate preparedness. This makes them more vulnerable to threats and can lead to very difficult, if not impossible, cyber insurance placements.

Richard Hanlon, chief commercial officer of EMEA for Aon’s Cyber Solutions, says: “Ransomware incidents are becoming more frequent, sophisticated and targeted, while ransom demands themselves are growing. These dynamics are leaving many businesses more exposed to cyber threats and unable to get the essential insurance coverage they need in response to an event. By launching Ransomware Defence, we will proactively provide clients with a comprehensive solution to address these challenges.”

Closer to home, South Africa has seen an influx of cyber insurance requests following the introduction of POPIA. But according to Zamani Ngidi, cyber solutions client manager at Aon South Africa, client risk maturity levels are not aligned with requirements from insurers, especially in the mid-size market space.

“Our Ransomware Defence seeks to remediate insurer requirement challenges and address the fact that there has been a considerable increase in ransomware attacks in the past 18 months, largely attributable to the mobilisation of the workforce in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. Most entities were not ready for the rapid shift to a remote and lean workforce, and criminals exploited this. This makes the Ransomware Defence offering more relevant than ever in this increasingly volatile threat environment,” he explains.

To provide further guidance on increasing security and improving cyber insurability, Aon has also launched a new guide, Ransomware Defence Recommended Practices. It includes a checklist to help determine the ransomware defence maturity level and preparedness of an organisation, helping it to navigate new forms of volatility and shape better decisions that address this long-tail risk.

Tracie Thompson, head of commercial risk for EMEA at Aon, adds: “We are experiencing a cautionary approach to insuring cyber risks by a majority of insurers; through Ransomware Defence we can help organisations increase their level of security and provide more accurate assessments of their defences, lowering the likelihood of successful attacks and positioning them strongly to access the insurance they need.”