Cyber attacks, data loss top risks to businesses: global survey

Cyber-attacks and data loss are the top risks facing directors and officers (D&O) as COVID-19 and the needed transition in working arrangements heightened concerns, a global survey by Willis Towers Watson (WTW) and Clyde & Co showed.

The 8th Directors’ Liability Survey released last April 21 covered the United States, Europe, United Kingdom and the Asia Pacific. It identified the top five risks for directors across the world as cyber attacks, which 56% of respondents said was a very or extremely significant risk, data loss (49%), regulatory risk (46%), health and safety risk (41%) and the risk of employment claims (38%).

In the Asia Pacific region, 42% of respondents answered cyber attacks as their top concern. It could be attributed to the increased reports of data breaches and the recent trend of beefing up data protection laws.

“The survey results reflect the growing realization that cyber risk is not simply an issue to be handled by an organization’s IT team,” Jennifer Tiang, regional cyber leader for Asia at Willis Towers Watson said. “It is a much broader issue cutting across all spheres of business and necessarily draws together stakeholders from risk, legal and IT teams, as well as requiring awareness of all employees from the ground up and board oversight from the top down.”

While maximizing returns for shareholders and providing guidance in navigating the business are the primary objectives of D&Os, they now also have to steer the company through a global health crisis, D&O and Cyber Practice Lead for Willis Towers Watson Philippines Joaquin Uy added.

“Since remote working is the new normal, the integrity of personal data connections cannot be guaranteed and may lead to vulnerabilities in the data and critical information that is accessible to employees. This will provide opportunities for cyber criminals to launch bigger targets with bigger [incidents] and ransomware attacks, exposing D&Os to increased risks and severe consequences,” Uy said.

Other key findings of the survey include:

• Increased vulnerability to data loss is resulting from businesses moving to new procedures and systems overnight due to the pandemic, with remote work creating a fertile ground for cyber criminals
• Regulatory and litigation risk continues to challenge organizations with board diversity now becoming mandatory in most industries
• Concern about insolvency considerably lower than in the previous survey despite expected wave of insolvencies

“From cyber-attack to data loss, the financial impacts of a cyber event can be catastrophic,” Tiang concluded. Read a copy of the full report here.

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