Good news, French insurers saw a very sharp drop in cyber claims in 2022! According to the latest study on cyber insurance by the Association for Risk Management and Business Insurance (Amrae), computer damage amounted to only 71 million euros in 2022 for French policyholders, i.e. a decrease of 57% compared to 2021 (164 million euros).
To obtain an equivalent amount, it was necessary to return to 2019, the first year of the study, when insurers had deplored a loss ratio estimated at 73 million euros. Computer hacks then exploded the following year, amounting to 217 million euros. The return to this floor is a positive signal, believes Amrae, which can boost the cyber insurance market.
The advancing defense
These good numbers do not mean “that the threat is diminishing”. “It is actually defense that is progressing, notes Mylène Jarossay, president of the Club of Information Security and Digital Experts (Cesin), quoted in the insurers’ report. “Many attacks are blocked or contained before having produced significant damage”, she adds, underlining the investment of companies “to reinforce their capacities”.
In detail, we find this downward trend for large companies, organizations that seem best equipped to face the cyber threat. Almost all covered against this risk, they had only one mega-loss to deplore. Its cost, estimated at 15 million euros, is to be related to the average amount per claim, approximately 900,000 euros.
Still at the mercy of a major disaster
Medium-sized companies, which insurers consider to be poorly covered (around 10%) have also been less affected by computer hacks. This phenomenon had reached a peak for this type of organization in 2021. On the other hand, the loss ratio affecting medium-sized companies is increasing, making the economic equation delicate for insurers: they collect as much in premiums as they pay out in claims. , valued on average at 450,000 euros.
More generally, observes Philippe Cotelle, the president of the cyber commission of Amrae, French insurers do not yet collect enough premiums to “absorb very large claims”. For Amrae, a massive increase in the number of insured companies is needed for the sector to be able to respond to major crises, such as the ravages of NotPetya.