Cyber claims severity up 14% in H1, says Coalition

Cyber liability claims severity rose in the first half of this year, with business email compromises the leading source of loss in the first half of 2024, according to a report by cyber insurer Coalition.

Overall claims severity increased by 14% compared with the same period last year, to an average loss of $122,000, primarily driven by a spike in ransomware severity as hackers and criminals targeted larger businesses.

Ransomware claims severity spiked by 68% to an average loss of $353,000 through the first half of 2024, according to the report.

“The use and impact of ransomware remains as volatile as ever,” Rob Jones, Coalition’s head of claims, said. “We saw a marked spike in the severity and demand amounts.”

The frequency of business email compromises (BEC) events increased by 4%, accounting for nearly a third of all cyber insurance claims.

BEC was the most frequent event by type, comprising 32% of incidents, followed by funds transfer fraud at 27% and ransomware at 18%, report data shows. “Other” loss types accounted for 23%.

Severity varied widely among businesses of different sizes.

Claims severity among businesses with more than $100m in revenue increased by 140% to an average loss of $307,000, a historic high.

Businesses with $25m to $100m in revenue saw claims jump 23% jump to an average loss of $129,000. Companies with less than $25m in revenue declined 4% to an average of $73,000.

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