According to Allianz, criminal hackers remain the biggest concern for companies around the world. In the new edition of the annual international “Risk Barometer” from the industrial and corporate insurer Allianz Commercial, cyber attacks are once again in first place. In second place are business interruptions – both categories are closely linked, as hacker attacks with blackmail software often paralyze operations. The company published the report on Tuesday in Munich.
Natural disasters are in third place this year and have obviously become more important in the minds of the 3,069 managers and experts surveyed internationally. A year ago, floods, storms, earthquakes and other natural events ranked sixth.
Last fall, Allianz Commercial surveyed executives, security professionals, insurance brokers and other risk experts from 92 countries, both from external companies and associations and from within the company. More than a third – 1,340 in total – of the participants work for large companies with more than half a billion dollars in annual sales.
Hackers use AI applications
According to the “Risk Barometer”, criminal hackers are also taking advantage of language models driven by artificial intelligence, which have been causing an international sensation since the public launch of ChatGTP in autumn 2022. Cybercriminals use AI applications, among other things, for larger and faster attacks with blackmail software (“ransomware”), for programming new malware and for less easily recognizable phishing emails and forgeries.
“However, the increase in ransomware attacks in 2023 was enormous,” said Jens Krickhahn, head of the cyber division at Allianz Commercial. In the first half of the year alone, the number of claims increased by more than half. The authors of the “Risk Barometer” assume that the wave of cybercrime will continue in 2024.
Germany differs somewhat from the international mood: it was not natural disasters that came in third place among the 454 managers and experts surveyed in Germany, but rather changes in laws and regulations. And a risk that was not yet in the top ten places in Germany has moved up to ninth place: “New in the top ten here in Germany are the political risks and violence, that was not the case last year,” said Michael Furtschegger, regional head Allianz Commercial for Germany and Switzerland.
