Travelers: Cyber threats again a top concern for business leaders

Photo | Pixabay

Write a Comment

By Sean Teehan

Nearly 60% of businesses rated cyber threats as their most pressing concern, according to this year's Travelers Risk Index, putting cyber crimes back at the top of C-suite worries after falling to second place last year.

A total of 59% of 1,200 business leaders who responded to the property-casualty insurer's annual survey ranked cybersecurity issues as their No. 1 concern. Last year, just months into the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses ranked "broad economic uncertainty" at the top of their concerns. However, cyber issues were businesses' top concern in 2019, and business leaders ranked it as a top concern in previous years as well.

The survey also showed the continuation of another trend: businesses not taking measures to prevent cyber hacking, despite saying they worry about the issue.

“Only 61% of participants reported feeling extremely or very confident in their company’s cyber practices," Travelers said of the data collected. "In addition, less than half of survey respondents have adopted basic preventive measures available to companies."

Other top concerns respondents noted were medical cost inflation (53% of respondents) and increasing employee benefit costs (also 53% of respondents).