InsurTech Magazine September 2022 | Page 85

MGA : TPA potential to cause massive disruption to financial institutions and leave customers without access to services .

The state of the cyber threat landscape in 2022 According to the IBM Security X-Force Threat Intelligence Index 2022 , server access attacks were the most prevalent type of attack targeted at finance and insurance organisations in 2021 , accounting for 14 % of all attacks . The relatively low percentage , despite it being the most common type of attack , shows just how varied the nature of cyber threats is .

Ransomware attacks , misconfigurations and fraud all followed closely behind , each accounting for around 10 % of the overall threat landscape . Remote access tool ( RAT ) scams , adware and credential harvesting were also fairly common attack types aimed at financial institutions .

The IBM index also shows that , while insurance and finance continue to be major targets for fraudsters , the manufacturing industry actually overtook it in 2021 to be the single most targeted sector in the global economy . IBM predicts that weaknesses in the global supply appealed to scammers looking to exploit vulnerabilities .

It ’ s the first time in more than five years that finance and insurance has not been the main target , although our industry did still account for 22.4 % of all cyber attacks – slightly down from 23 % in 2020 . This doesn ’ t mean that fintechs and insurtechs are off the hook , though . Businesses need to be aware of vulnerabilities in their organisastion that could expose them to the risk of a cyberattack . Unfortunately , with the rising cost of doing business and recent staff layoffs , insurtechs and insurance carriers are as vulnerable a target as any .

DAVID BICKNELL THEMATIC ANALYST , GLOBALDATA insurtechdigital . com 85