Cyberattacks are posing an ever-increasing challenge to organisations and the wider economy. A survey from the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology found that 43% of UK businesses experienced a cyber breach or attack in the previous 12 months. Separate research suggests nearly a third of CEOs now feel their organisations are highly exposed to major cyber-related financial loss in the year ahead. Against this backdrop, the ABI has published From Prevention to Resilience: Good Practice Guidance on Cyber Resilience, developed with leading cyber insurers and government partners. The guidance is designed to help organisations of all sizes improve their cyber resilience.
Drawing on insurers' experience and claims data, it identifies practical measures that can help organisations prevent attacks, reduce harm and recover more quickly when incidents occur. These include:
Regular staff training to help employees recognise and avoid common threats
Reliable offline backups to ensure critical data can be restored as quickly as possible
Clear incident response plans to enable faster, more coordinated action during an attack
Multi-factor authentication to guard against unauthorised access to systems
Good logging and monitoring to spot suspicious activity early
Strong encryption to protect sensitive data
Supplier and third-party checks to reduce the risk of attacks via external systems
The guidance also highlights the role cyber insurance can play in strengthening resilience. Alongside financial protection, insurers increasingly provide services such as threat monitoring, incident response support and system recovery, complementing initiatives such as Cyber Essentials and the Cyber Resilience Pledge.
Reflecting on this growing role, a joint report from the ABI and PwC UK, published alongside the guidance, explores how cyber insurance has developed into a key tool for managing cyber risk.
From novel ways to mitigate risk to advancing product design, the report highlights the cyber insurance market's ability to adapt and innovate to this evolving threat and meet growing demand. It also identifies opportunities to further strengthen its contribution to UK resilience.
Its recommendations include improving understanding of cyber insurance through clearer policy language and stronger distribution, aligning more closely with wider cyber resilience initiatives and regulation, enhancing data sharing to support better risk management, and encouraging organisations to invest in higher levels of cyber preparedness.
Together, these findings reinforce the case for a more proactive approach to cyber resilience, helping organisations better withstand and recover from attacks.
Chris Bose, Director of General Insurance at the ABI: "Cyber resilience is a shared challenge that cannot be solved by any one sector alone. Our report with PwC UK highlights the significant opportunity for cyber insurance to play an even greater role in supporting resilience across the UK, while our new guidance highlights practical actions businesses can take to better protect themselves. Realising that potential will require continued collaboration between insurers, businesses and government to strengthen preparedness and resilience."
Martin Murphy, Corporate Insurance Strategy Lead at PwC UK: "As our report shows, cyber insurance is increasingly doing much more than paying claims. Insurers are helping organisations strengthen their defences, respond more effectively when incidents occur and recover more quickly afterwards. With cyber threats continuing to evolve, there is an opportunity for the market to play an even greater role in supporting resilience across the UK economy."
|
