Cyber Protection Gap Widens for SMEs
A Dialogue Paper which provides a temperature check on cyber risk and calls out the risk to SMEs being left behind.
Small-to-medium-sized businesses (SMEs) risk being left behind in the fight against costly cyberattacks unless they receive more help to bolster their defences.
In Cyber Protection Gap Widens for SMEs, Win-Li Toh, Dr Michael Neary and Sarah Wood take a temperature check on cyber risk.
In brief:
- Over the past two years, cyber risk has significantly increased and Corporate Australia has substantially uplifted its awareness and resilience to those risks. However, SMEs have not responded to the same degree.
- There are a variety of reasons for this widening protection gap for SMEs, including believing that cybersecurity is “too hard” and they are “too small to target”, they face more immediate pressures, and cyber insurance is still relatively new, with questions around coverage, cost and value.
- SMEs are vital to Australia’s economy and they need to respond – they are targets and the consequences can be existential.
- Continual and concerted efforts across government initiatives, practical cybersecurity measures and insurance solutions is necessary to ensure SMEs are not left behind.
SMEs are our real estate agents, our mortgage brokers, our doctors' practices and our pharmacists. They often hold sensitive and personal information, and a cyberattack could have a big impact on any one of them and broader society. We'd like to see industry, insurance companies and governments work together to ensure SMEs are protected from cyber threats, and have practical, cost-efficient means to strengthen their cyber defences and ability to respond to cyberattacks.
— Win-Li Toh, Actuary and author
Dialogue Papers are a series of papers written by actuaries and published by the Actuaries Institute which aim to stimulate discussion on important, emerging issues. Opinions expressed in this publication are the opinions of the Paper’s authors and do not necessarily represent those of the Institute.
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