Recently we reported on the real cost of a cyber security breach and outlined that an average date breach results in around 29,000 compromised individual client records. Apart from the actual cost of remedying the cause/s of the cyber security breakdown, the average cost to a company for lost business alone was about $3,300,000 (Baht 105,000,000) for each incident.

It is not only big business that is being attacked but small and medium sized business are being attacked to a greater degree as they are potentially easier targets with lower budgets than “big business” to expend on the various elements of cyber security protection.

And, as the Financial Mail on Sunday recently reported, small and medium sized businesses underestimate the threat that cybercrime poses to their firms. The article reveals that research by PwC found that 60 per cent of small businesses have suffered a malicious breach in the past 12 months with half of those being considered a serious incident.

A closer look at the PWC report shows that:

• In 2014 the number of detected incidents soared to a total of 42.8 million.
• This signified an increase of 48% over 2013.
• The increase comes at great cost, with total financial losses attributed to security compromises increasing 34% over 2013.
• The percentage of growth of security incidents outpaced both global GDP AND mobile phone growth combined.

The full PWC report can be seen online, here, and is well worth taking the time to read, and then consider what you should be doing to protect your own business from the cyber security threat.

Cyber Security Insurance

Thailand, of course, is not immune to cyber security attacks. Just recently the Bangkok Post reported that personal data on Thai government websites had been exposed and that Thailand is considered the world’s third-most dangerous base for accessing the web, and as we revealed in an earlier report the local insurance market does not yet have the understanding, sophistication nor availability of coverage that one could use to bolster a firm’s cyber security armoury.

That being said, there are some Insurers locally with the capability of providing basic cover, but your broker should have access to international levels of coverage and a good broker will take the time to fully understand your needs and exposures to tailor a cyber security programme suited to your budget and, critically, your risk.