Almost the majority of businesses with cyber insurance are worried that their policies may not cover a new, growing digital threat, according to leading email and data security company Mimecast.
The firm’s latest research revealed that 45% of business with cyber insurance are unsure if their policies are up-to-date for covering new social engineering email attacks.
According to Mimecast, only 10% believe that their cyber insurance policies are completely current and advanced.
Only 43% of firms with cyber insurance are confident that their policies would pay out for whaling financial transactions.
“Cyber insurance uptake is growing quickly but a lack of employee training on the latest email attacks is leaving organizations at great risk of breaking policy terms,” said Steven Malone, Mimecast director of security product management.
“Attacks where employees are tricked into sending personal data or intellectual property are even less likely to be fully covered,” he also said.
Mimecast said the rise of whaling threats or CEO fraud has created an attack climate where many insured organizations may not be protected from fraudulent transactions because they fall outside of the coverage scope when their policies were originally signed.
The company said 67% of businesses have seen a spike in whaling attacks while 65% say targeted phishing attacks have grown. Also, 58% of companies have seen an increase in untargeted phishing emails.
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