Coalition, an Active Insurance provider, released its 2024 Cyber Claims Report, revealing that over half of all cyber insurance claims in 2023 were due to email-related fraud. The report, detailing emerging cyber trends and their impact on policyholders, found that 56% of claims stemmed from funds transfer fraud (FTF) and business email compromise (BEC), underscoring the importance of email security in cyber risk management.
Robert Jones, Coalition’s Head of Global Claims, highlighted the vulnerabilities of email inboxes as prime targets for cybercriminals seeking to intercept payments. “Threat actors want to get paid, and the email inbox has proven to be an easy place for an attacker to uncover payment information and potentially intervene in payment processes to steal funds,” said Jones. Coalition reclaimed over $38 million in fraudulent transfers last year and resolved 52% of all reported issues without requiring any out-of-pocket payments from policyholders.
“Digital Battlefield”
The report also pointed to increased risks linked to boundary devices like firewalls and virtual private networks (VPNs). Businesses using internet-exposed Cisco ASA devices were nearly five times more likely to file a cyber claim in 2023, while those with Fortinet devices faced double the risk. Shelley Ma, Incident Response Lead at Coalition, further indicated that using internet-exposed remote desktop protocol increased the likelihood of a claim by 2.5 times. Ma stated, “The digital battlefield is evolving rapidly, and our defenses must adapt just as quickly to outpace the threat actors.”
Additionally, introducing AI tools has made it easier for cyber attackers to launch targeted attacks and identify exploitable assets, thus exacerbating the cyber threat landscape.
The report notes a 13% year-over-year increase in overall claim frequency and a 10% increase in claim severity, with average losses amounting to $100,000. Despite an overall drop in ransomware severity by 54% in the second half of 2023, ransomware incidents rose 15% year-over-year, with an average loss exceeding $263,000. Coalition helped negotiate ransom demands down by an average of 64%, mitigating financial impacts on businesses.
The full 2024 Cyber Claims Report is available for download through Coalition’s website.
Source: Coalition Finds More Than Half of Cyber Insurance Claims Originate in the Email Inbox.
Other News: Watch Out for “Long-Tail” Cyber Claims: WSJ (Opens in a new browser tab)