Cyber crime - risks faced by business in 2025

Business owners need to understand the evolving situation with cyber threats in order to have the best chance of building a resilient business. One of the actions they must build into their plans is to have adequate insurance cover in place in case the worst does happen. Let's look first at what the risk is.

What really is the potential risk to business?

In 2024, the UK Government Cyber Security Breaches Survey revealed that 50% of UK businesses had suffered a cyber-attack or security breach in the previous 12 months. Unsurprisingly this was a significant increase from the previous survey, finding 39% of businesses were at risk in 2022. *

In a report dated January 2025, Twenty-Four IT report that over 560,000 new cyber threats are discovered daily and 81% of all UK Businesses who suffer from a Cyber Security Attack are Small to Medium Sized Businesses

We await more up-to-date figures but according to Syn-Star the average cost of a breach against medium and large UK businesses is ￡4,960 as of December 2023. Costs don’t simply include immediate repair or replacement of equipment. There is a cost to brand trust and reputation that is hard to measure when a major data breach takes place. There is a cost in terms of downtime while operations are recovered. Cyber criminals can demand ransom payments which is an additional cost threat.

So, what does 2025 have in store with regard to cyber crime?

It looks likely that 2 key themes will dominate the cyber security landscape in 2025:

·?????? Cyber Spys: The ‘Big Four’, made up of China, Iran, Russia & North Korea will inevitably continue with cyber espionage, deliberately carrying out influencing activity and disruption. Extortion and information theft malware are significant risks to organisations from this area.

·?????? Rapid changes in available technology, particularly in AI, mean that we can expect to see more sophisticated ‘disinformation’ and attacks using social media. For example, deepfakes will continue and as we have already seen, be more sophisticated making them even harder to detect. ?

·?????? AI will increasingly be used to help cyber criminals with phishing (gaining access to computer hardware -laptop, pc, even servers – to steal user data by use of infected links in text, email, messaging), and all forms of online attacks. It used to be relatively easy to spot a spurious email by the strange incoming email address, spelling mistakes and strange content but this is no longer the case. ?

Doing nothing is probably not the best option. Companies need to establish a cyber security strategy and act upon it, including employee policies, software enhancements and build in practices to stay up-to-date. Staying ahead of emerging threats using intelligent monitoring, taking advantage of the latest cloud security solutions and putting in place identity and access management controls are just some of the solutions to look into.?

At Acer we take the cyber security of our clients very seriously. We work closely with our clients and our insurers to make sure that prevention of cyber risk is a top priority and that, if the worst happens, the right insurance cover is in place.

What does Cyber Insurance Cover protect?

Cyber insurance cover provides peace of mind. In the event of a cyber attack, your policy could cover a wide range of cyber risks, for example:

• Data breach response: Covers the costs associated with responding to a data breach, such as notifying affected parties, credit monitoring services for impacted individuals, and public relations efforts to mitigate reputational damage.
• Business interruption: If a cyber-attack disrupts your operations, cyber liability insurance can help cover the resulting financial losses, helping your business recover quickly.
• Legal defence and settlements: Cover for any legal fees, regulatory fines, and settlements if customers, clients, or third parties bring claims against your business following a cyber incident.
• Data and system recovery: Cover for the costs of data restoration, software, and hardware repairs or replacements if a cyber-attack that compromises your business systems or data.
• Cyber extortion: In the event of ransomware attacks or threats to leak data, this cover provides financial support to manage ransom payments, negotiation services, and IT assistance for secure recovery. A sensitive subject area but large global organisations such as Sony and Garmin have been subject to such attacks.

Does every business need cyber liability insurance in 2025?

Any business that relies on digital systems, stores sensitive data, or conducts transactions online should consider cyber liability insurance. Here’s why it’s critical for businesses across all sectors:

• Data Protection obligations: With regulations like GDPR in the UK and EU, businesses are required to protect customer data. A data breach can result in substantial fines and reputational damage.
• Rising threat of cyber-crime: Cyber threats are increasing, and small to medium-sized businesses are often targeted due to their perceived vulnerability. Cyber Liability Insurance helps you stay prepared for potential attacks.
• Customer trust: Clients and customers expect businesses to take cyber-security seriously. Cyber Liability Insurance demonstrates your commitment to safeguarding their information.

Speak to a trusted and experienced insurance broker such as Acer regarding your regarding your organisational setup and get personal advice on what policy best suits your business needs.

Cyber protection is an increasingly complex area for all size businesses and the threats are growing, as well as becoming more sophisticated. ?Putting in place measures to help prevention, as well as insurance protection to aid recovery should the worst happen is the only way to tackle the increasing risks in 2025 and maintain peace of mind.

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To contact Acer Insurance regarding cyber liability insurance, please email us on: [email protected] or call 01959 546823        

* Information sources and more details of the risk companies face:

https://www.twenty-four.it/services/cyber-security-services/cyber-crime-prevention/cybercrime-statistics-uk/