Global cyber attack could cause up to $261b worth of damage: Report

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Jan 30, 2019 06:00 am

A co-ordinated global cyber attack, spread through malicious e-mail, could cause economic damage anywhere between US$85 billion (S$115 billion) and US$193 billion, a hypothetical scenario developed as a stress test for risk management showed.

Insurance claims after such an attack would range from business interruption and cyber extortion to incident response costs, the report jointly produced by insurance market Lloyd's of London and Aon said yesterday.

Total claims paid by the insurance sector in this scenario is estimated to be between US$10 billion and US$27 billion, based on policy limits ranging from US$500,000 to US$200 million.

The stark difference between insured and economic loss estimates highlights the extent of underinsurance, in case of such an attack, the stress test showed. An attack could affect several sectors globally, with the largest losses in retail, healthcare, manufacturing and banking fields.

Regional economies that are more service dominated, especially the US and Europe, would suffer more and are vulnerable to higher direct losses, the report said.

Cyber attacks have been in focus after a virus spread from Ukraine to wreak havoc around the globe in 2017, crippling thousands of computers, disrupting ports from Mumbai to Los Angeles and even halting production at a chocolate factory in Australia. - REUTERS