Cyber Risk Trends

Taking steps to address cyber risk is essential for any business. According to the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC), there were over 84,700 cybercrime reports in the 2024-2025 financial year. That’s one report every 6 minutes!

The average cost per cybercrime varies by business size:

  • $56,600 for small businesses (up 14%)
  • $97,200 for medium businesses (up 55%), and
  • $202,700 for large businesses (up 219%)

The average financial loss for each confirmed cyber incident is $80,850. That’s costly for businesses! It’s clear that taking steps to protect your business from the potential claims and financial losses associated with cybercrime makes financial sense.

Most Common Cyber Risks to Watch Out For

According to the ACSC data, phishing is a common method used to compromise emails and commit fraud against businesses. They are usually untargeted, mass emails that might ask for sensitive information or encourage staff to click on links to fake websites or open seemingly legitimate attachments. Phishing has now extended to text messages and QR Codes.

Other common cyber threats include:

  • Denial of service
  • Email compromise
  • Business email compromise fraud

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Insurers & Cyber Risk

As cyberattacks increase, insurance underwriters are closely examining your data security controls when assessing your risks for cyber insurance.

At a minimum, they expect to see evidence of policies and procedures designed to prevent a cyber breach. These may include:

  • Multifactor authentication for web-based programs, like Office 365, Xero or other online accounts.
  • Regular Data Backup practices
  • Employee training on Cyber-attack prevention
  • Regular software security updates
  • Plus, a host of other preventative measures such as response plans, encryption, segregation of networks and more

Without adequate controls, an insurer may refuse cover, charge higher premiums, or restrict your cover.

What Can You Do to Protect Your Business from Cyber Risk?

According to the ACSC, to mitigate cyber security threats, businesses and organisations should consider:

  • Cyber Response Plans – based on ‘when’ not ‘if’ a data breach occurs.
  • Use secure-by-design and secure-by-default products and services
  • Implement best practice – ASD’s Essential Eight
  • Enable multi-factor authentication (MFA), when available
  • Use long, unique passphrases for every online account
  • Enable automatic updates for all software and do not ignore update prompts
  • Backup important files and devices regularly
  • Stay alert and train staff to identify phishing messages and scams
  • Stay up to date with cyber security news no matter your business size

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What Can You Do to Transfer Cyber Risk to Insurance?

While there is no standard cyber policy, a comprehensive cyber insurance policy can provide extensive coverage. The types of risk to cover may include:

– Your liability

  • Legal fees, defence costs
  • Fines related to a data breach
  • Contractual and non-compliance expenses due to a data breach
  • Financial settlements for losses incurred by third parties

– Your Response Costs

  • Engaging specialist legal, PR, Investigative and negotiation services
  • Issuing breach notifications to affected individuals, suppliers or other third parties
  • Monitoring the data breach

– Your Operational Costs

  • Network repairs
  • Data recovery costs
  • Loss of income due to business interruption

Regulators are increasingly likely to take action against organisations that fail to implement adequate cyber protections, whether you use a third-party service provider or manage your networks in-house.

Seek Professional Risk & Insurance Advice

Your insurance adviser can guide you through the most appropriate options for transferring cyber risk to insurance. They can also connect you with cyber insurers that offer cyber training to support your business and educate staff.

For advice on transferring cyber risk to insurance, you can contact Clear Insurance on 1300 721 132 or email info@clearinsurance.com.au. You can also ask about our no-obligation risk and insurance review for complete peace of mind.

General Advice Warning: This advice is general and does not take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. You should consider whether the advice is appropriate for you and your personal circumstances. Before you make any decision about whether to acquire a certain product, you should obtain and read the relevant product disclosure statement.

Clear Insurance Pty Ltd. ABN. 41 601 916 689. AFSL No. 548953.