FICO Survey: Half of US Firms Don’t Have Cybersecurity Insurance

SAN JOSE — May 31, 2017

Highlights:
 

• 50 percent of US executives surveyed say their firm has no cybersecurity insurance, compared to 40 percent in other countries surveyed
• 27 percent of US executives say their firms have no plans to take out cybersecurity insurance, despite 61 percent of executives stating they expect the volume of attempted breaches to increase in the next year
• Only 16 percent of US firms surveyed have cybersecurity insurance that covers all risks
• Ovum conducted telephone surveys for FICO of security executives at 350 companies in the US and other countries

A full 50 percent of US firms do not have cybersecurity risk insurance, despite the fact that 61 percent of US firms expect the volume of cyber breaches to increase in the next year. These findings come from a new survey conducted by research and consultancy firm Ovum for Silicon Valley analytics firm FICO, which also reveals that even among those that have insurance, only 16 percent said they have cybersecurity insurance that covers all risks. This puts the US well behind the UK and Canada, among other countries.

FICO will host a Tweet Chat on the cybersecurity survey with Ovum tomorrow at 11:00 AM EDT. Individuals are encouraged to participate using #cybertrends.

In the US, the healthcare industry is particularly behind on protecting itself with cybersecurity risk insurance. None of the healthcare firms represented in the survey have insurance that covers all risk, while 74 percent have no cybersecurity insurance at all.

“With so many firms concerned about a rise in the likelihood of cyber breaches in the next year, it’s troubling to see that half of them don’t have any cybersecurity insurance protection,” said Bob Shiflet, who oversees fraud and financial crime solutions at FICO. “There are steps the insurance industry can take to make guidelines clearer and explain premium adjustments, but companies need to be willing to dedicate the resources required to protect themselves from the breaches they themselves see as likely, if not inevitable.”

US executives identified several ways by which the risk assessment process insurers use could improve. Twenty-nine percent say that insurers should provide clear guidelines about how premiums are chosen, 28 percent would like clearer communications as to why premium adjustments happen and 23 percent would like insurers to introduce an industry standard for benchmarking cybersecurity risk.

Ovum conducted the survey for FICO through telephone interviews with 350 CXOs and senior security officers based in the US, Canada, the UK and the Nordics in March and April 2017. Respondents represented firms in financial services, telecommunications, retail, ecommerce and media service providers.                              

For more information, read our white paper: http://www.fico.com/en/latest-thinking/white-paper/what-the-c-suite-needs-to-know-about-cyber-readiness

About FICO
FICO (NYSE: FICO) powers decisions that help people and businesses around the world prosper. Founded in 1956 and based in Silicon Valley, the company is a pioneer in the use of predictive analytics and data science to improve operational decisions. FICO holds more than 170 US and foreign patents on technologies that increase profitability, customer satisfaction and growth for businesses in financial services, telecommunications, health care, retail and many other industries. Using FICO solutions, businesses in more than 100 countries do everything from protecting 2.6 billion payment cards from fraud, to helping people get credit, to ensuring that millions of airplanes and rental cars are in the right place at the right time.

Learn more at http://www.fico.com

FICO is a registered trademark of Fair Isaac Corporation in the U.S. and other countries.

About Ovum
Ovum is a market-leading research and consulting firm focused on helping digital service providers and their vendor partners thrive in the connected digital economy. Through its 150 analysts worldwide, it offers expert analysis and strategic insight across the IT, telecoms, and media industries. Founded in 1985, Ovum has one of the most experienced analyst teams in the industry and is a respected source of guidance for technology business leaders, CIOs, vendors, service providers, and regulators looking for comprehensive, accurate, and insightful market data, research, and consulting. With 23 offices across six continents, Ovum offers a truly global perspective on technology and media markets and provides thousands of clients with insight including workflow tools, forecasts, surveys, market assessments, technology audits, and opinion.

Ovum is part of the Business Intelligence Division of Informa plc, a leading business intelligence, academic publishing, knowledge and events group listed on the London Stock Exchange. https://ovum.informa.com/

Media Contact:
Molly Wade for FICO
Voce Communications
+1 (508) 864-1404
mwade@vocecomm.com