What’s the leading business concern in America?

The Travelers Companies has released its 2024 Travelers Risk Index, which identifies cyber threats as the top concern among business leaders in the United States.

This annual survey, launched in 2014, collects feedback from business insurance decision-makers across various industries and company sizes, highlighting the issues that most worry them.

For the fourth time in six years, cyber risks ranked as the primary concern, with 62% of respondents expressing significant worry about the threat.

Other key concerns included medical cost inflation, which was noted by 59% of participants and had held the top spot in 2023, as well as increasing employee benefits costs, broad economic uncertainty, and challenges in attracting and retaining talent, all of which were also cited by 59% of respondents. The ability to attract and retain talent was a concern for 54% of those surveyed.

Tim Francis (pictured above), enterprise cyber lead at Travelers, commented on the findings, noting that the results reflect the business community’s growing awareness of the operational and financial damage that cyberattacks can cause.

“What’s troubling is that while more businesses are securing cyber insurance as a tool to mitigate vulnerabilities, many still elect not to – despite knowing the risks,” Francis said.

The survey revealed that nearly 30% of the more than 1,200 respondents said their company did not have a cyber insurance policy. However, the number of businesses with such coverage has grown, with 65% now reporting that they have a policy, up from 60% last year.

This is a significant increase from 2018, when only 39% of businesses held cyber insurance. The growth was evident across companies of all sizes, with small businesses increasing their coverage from 34% to 41%, mid-sized companies rising from 74% to 77%, and large businesses growing from 72% to 78%.

Rise in cyber incidents

The increase in cyber insurance coverage has coincided with a slight rise in reported cyber incidents. The survey found that 24% of respondents said their company had experienced a cyber incident, compared to 23% in 2023, with more than half of these incidents occurring in the past year. This marks the eighth time in nine years that the percentage of businesses reporting a data breach or cyber event has increased from the previous year.

Among the specific cyber risks cited by respondents, security breaches and unauthorized access to financial accounts or control systems were the top concerns, with 57% of participants identifying these as the greatest risks.

Ransomware attacks were also a significant concern, with 54% of respondents highlighting this threat, marking a sharp increase from its ranking as the ninth most cited cyber-related issue in 2023. Employees putting systems or data at risk through unsafe computing practices and system glitches were also identified as major concerns by 53% of participants.

In response to the rising concern around cyber threats, the Travelers Institute, the public policy division of Travelers, announced that it will hold three educational programs in October as part of Cybersecurity Awareness Month.

These in-person events, titled “Cyber: Prepare, Prevent, Mitigate, Restore,” will be held in Irvine, California, on October 10 and in Philadelphia on October 30. In addition, a webinar scheduled for October 2 will offer guidance on cyber readiness.

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